My father's favorite fruit is peaches, specifically, peach pie. In an effort to make homemade Christmas gifts, I decided to can up some peach pie filling for part of his Christmas gifts. I ended up with one and half boxes of peaches, so after canning seven jars of the peach pie filling, I still had quite a bit left over.
We ate peaches fresh, peaches cooked on the grill with a honey cinnamon glaze (oh so good), peach fruit leather, peach and mint smoothies, and I still had peaches. So I decided to make up a batch of peach salsa.
Tomatoes and I have a love hate relationship. I love to eat and cook with them, but they hate to grow in my Pacific Northwest garden, or maybe it's just my garden, not the Pacific Northwest. Some of my neighbors grow gorgeous tomatoes, and while I can grow almost everything else, tomatoes are my one true woe.
I don't like a real hot salsa and peaches give a nice balance of sweet with the heat. I actually prefer it over regular salsa.
If you are new to canning, here is my Ultimate Guide to Water Bath Canning for beginners. I adapted this recipe from *affiliate link Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
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How to Can Fresh Peach Salsa
½ cup apple cider vinegar
6 cups peeled and chopped peaches
1 ¼ cups chopped onion
2 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 hot yellow wax peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
½ cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin (I find it important to use organic fresh spices when possible and purchase all of my spices from my affiliate partner Rose Mountain Herbs. I've found I can usually use less because the flavor is much more potent when using a fresh quality product.)
Makes 5 pint jars
In a large stainless steel pot, combine vinegar and prepared peaches. Add onion, peppers, cilantro, honey, garlic, and cumin. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, boiling gently and stirring often, until slightly thickened, around 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Ladle hot salsa into your prepared jars, leaving ½ inch head space. Remove air bubbles and wipe rim of jar with a clean damp cloth. Center lid on jar and screw band down snugly.
Place jars in rack inside waterbath canner. Make sure tops of jars are covered by at least 1 to 2 inches of water. Bring water to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid and remove jars onto a folded towel after 5 minutes. Allow to cool and set for 24 hours before storing in a cool dark space. Be sure to check seals before storing. If a jar hasn't sealed, immediately store it in the fridge.
I actually put one jar in the fridge without canning it to use right away. I baked a salmon and during the last 10 minutes of baking, spooned this peach salsa on top. It was delicious and paired so nicely with the fish. (We ate it so fast I forgot to snap a picture, but it was pretty and tasty.)
📖 Recipe
How to Can Fresh Peach Salsa
Ingredients
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 6 cups peeled and chopped peaches
- 1 ¼ cups chopped onion
- 2 jalapeno peppers seeds removed, finely chopped
- 2 hot yellow wax peppers seeds removed, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- ½ cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- In a large stainless steel pot, combine vinegar and prepared peaches. Add onion, peppers, cilantro, honey, garlic, and cumin. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, boiling gently and stirring often, until slightly thickened, around 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Ladle hot salsa into your prepared jars, leaving ½ inch head space. Remove air bubbles and wipe rim of jar with a clean damp cloth. Center lid on jar and screw band down snugly.
- Place jars in rack inside waterbath canner. Make sure tops of jars are covered by at least 1 to 2 inches of water. Bring water to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid and remove jars onto a folded towel after 5 minutes. Allow to cool and set for 24 hours before storing in a cool dark space. Be sure to check seals before storing. If a jar hasn't sealed, immediately store it in the fridge.
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Stefany
We love your recipes, getting ready to try this one. My question is what degree of ripeness do the peaches need to be for the best result for canning? We just got some peaches yesterday and they're still pretty firm and not right. Do you recommend that they be soft and more on the right side for canning? Thank you
Danielle
I’d like to make this to can but am having trouble finding hot wax peppers. Could I substitute with all jalapeño or do you have a suggestion for a substitute?
Heather
I made six quarts of this last year, and it was absolutely delicious. I've loved every one of your canning recipes that I've tried.
Katie
Could I put this up in quart jars instead of pint jars? If so, would the processing time be different?
Ashley
I’m so excited to try this! My question is about timing.. my peaches are ripe before my peppers in the garden, is there a way to keep the peaches until the rest of the garden catches up? like freeze them whole or chopped etc.?
Melissa Norris
Freezing doesn't lend well with peaches, they turn brown and the texture isn't good. You can try the fridge but if the peppers have a while you'd probably be best purchasing some to make it while the peaches are fresh.
Rachel
This looks delicious! Can i safely omit the onion or substitute the green parts of green onions? My husband is extremely sensitive to onion. He can tolerate the green onion a bit though.
Melissa Norris
You can omit it, if you use the green onion, just be sure not to exceed the ratio of regular onion to keep the acidity level safe. 🙂
Sabrina Cox
I am excited to make this! We are just a couple hours south of you and have a peach tree in our back yard. They are pretty soft but have amazing flavor so hopefully they work for the salsa. Do you think the recipe would double ok?
Melissa Norris
Yes, it should double just fine!
Amy J. O.
I don't can, so what would the recipe be for...say...an evening of fellowship, or dinner?
Teckla
Hi, Melissa
My stomach can't handle much heat, but I still like salsa. Do you think it would be okay to use only 1 jalapeno and wax pepper each, adding half a medium or large green pepper or orange sweet pepper instead? It would change the flavor, no doubt, but I like all the different sweet peppers so that wouldn't bother me. My concern is whether it would affect preservation long term? I very much enjoy your posts and will appreciate your input. Not doing much canning this year, but hope to do more next summer and things like beans and soups through the winter months.
Diana
You could substitute the jalapenos for a fooled you pepper. It has the same looks and texture as the jalapenos but not the heat
CJ
I have been looking for a recipe for canned peach pie filling. Would you be willing to share yours? Thanks in advance CJ
Melissa Norris
CJ,
I've used the one in my Ball Complete Book of Home Canning and it uses raisins, lemon zest and apples as the thickener. The raisins were kind of different in the filling, good,but not really what I expect in a peach pie. For just a straight up Peach Pie Filling this looks like a great one and really similar to my apple pie filling recipe. http://www.simplycanning.com/peach-pie-recipes.html
10+ Easy Home Canning RecipesMelissa K. Norris
[…] peach salsa recipe is great with baked salmon or your favorite […]