Freezing peaches?

[Sara]

I just bought a huge box of Colorado peaches. Oh, they are the yummiest. I don't really want to cook them or anything, but I am wondering what I can do with the ones that we don't eat. We'll eat a lot of them, but I'm sure we'll have some left. What is the best way to preserve them? I don't want to can. Obviously, I'll probably have to freeze them if I am not canning them, but I am not sure the best way to do that?

[ChristianMother27]

we always had frozen peaches around, but they had been peeled, sliced, boiled, and frozen in freezer bags (my mom usually used them in peach cobbler and it was yummmmmy!)

maybe if you don't wanna do that, you could peel and chop them up and freeze them that way? i don't know how freezing the whole thing would work well... i know strawberries you just take off the top and freeze, so i guess if you de-pitted it you could freeze it that way?

[snlmama]

My mom has peach trees in her yard. She just peels and slices them and puts them in freezer bags.

[Sara]

Okay, last year, I only froze about 4 or 5 peaches, but they were really brown when I pulled them out of the freezer and even moreso after they thawed. They just weren't very visually appealing. I like to use them for topping pancakes and waffles in the winter. Is there a way to prevent browning?

[ChristianMother27]

ours were nice and orange still, but as i said they were cooked before freezing. i think there might have been some pectin involved, but maybe that was for canning, i can't remember.

[snlmama]

Okay, last year, I only froze about 4 or 5 peaches, but they were really brown when I pulled them out of the freezer and even moreso after they thawed. They just weren't very visually appealing. I like to use them for topping pancakes and waffles in the winter. Is there a way to prevent browning?


:scratch As far as I know all my mom did was throw them in the bag and they turned out fine. I'll ask her when I talk w/ her next. She's out of the country right now so I'm not sure how long it will be...

[MamatoBiz]

My mom has frozen fruit for as long as I can remember. She slices, swishes them through a bowl of water and lemon juice and then lays them out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Freeze the sheet and then pile them into ziplocs. The flash freezing prevents them from freezing into a big lump of peach since the fruit is so soft. We use the same method with berries and apricots, etc.

I think the lemon water may keep them from turning color.

[allisonintx]

Yea, what momtoBiz said (hey, have I ever told you that I call my 11yo dd Elizabeth, Biz?)

My grandmother did that for years, and if the peaches were a little sour that year, she would sweeten them a bit before freezing with good old fashoned sugar.

Her trick for peeling was to boil a pot of water, dunk the peach in the boiling water for just a little bit, and then the peel would slide right off! Works for Tomatos too.

[MamatoBiz]

Wow, another Biz! How unusual :highfive

I forgot about the dunking in boiling water thing to peel them. To be perfectly honest, for the most part I am usually too lazy to peel things. I justify this laziness with the "all the vitamins are in the skin" line :giggle I know that if you slice a little X in the bottom of the tomato skin before dunking, the skin will start peeling back on it's own. I wonder if that would work for peaches?