Peaches!!!!!

Time for Peaches!

I love this time of year because of all the fruit we get to preserve: apples, pears, and peaches!

It's also the time chocolate can be ordered, too. (but that's another story!)

Here's how I preserved our peaches: frozen and dehydrated.

With our box of peaches,

I put about 5 or 6 in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to loosen the skins.

Then I put the peaches in ice cold water to stop them from cooking all the way through.

I just want to heat the skins enough to separate them from the pulp on the inside.
The skins slip right off! So Easy!

                                                

Then I cut them in half, take out the big seed, and slice them for dehydrating and freezing.

(Dehydrating: 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick, for about 8 - 10 hours, or till crispy)

(Freezing: 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick, for about 6 hours, or until nearly frozen)

The slices then go either on the dehydrater trays to dry, or on a jelly roll pan for freezing. 

After they were nearly frozen through, I took a large pancake turner (metal) and scraped them from the pan and put them in a ziploc bag for further freezing.

I love the color of the water after scalding a few batches of peaches.
Rich rose color! (although this picture doesn't do it justice - a bit blurry)

These are the frozen peaches. Turned out great!

And these are the dehydrated peaches.

Quite thin, but still pretty good eating.

This was the first batch - paper thin.
(The other batches were thicker)

But whether thick or thin, they're still good eating!