Don't Let Canned Peaches Go To Waste. Here's How To Make Them Last Long-Term

Just like some canned veggies can taste as good as fresh, canned peaches make for a succulent, flavorful snack for years. However, while canning peaches significantly extends their shelf life, it doesn't prevent them from spoiling forever. After about two years, those juicy pieces of fruit will deteriorate, losing flavor and possibly becoming unsafe to eat. There are several ways to give canned fruit new life in various recipes, but if you aren't ready to use your peaches and want to keep them around for later, freeze-drying them can maintain their quality for up to 30 years when correctly stored.

Although there are some sources online that claim you can freeze-dry canned peaches without acquiring a special machine, a bona fide freeze-dryer certainly completes the task much quicker and more efficiently. They can retail between $70 and over $3,000. It works by creating a sub-zero environment that draws moisture out of the fruit, which then freezes on the outside. Then, it vacuum pumps air out, which causes the ice formed around the produce to transform from a solid into a vapor without entering a liquid state.

The entire process requires little effort on your part and can be started in less than an hour. First, rinse and drain your canned peaches and let them dry for five to 10 minutes. Once dried, lay them out on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Place the sheet pan in your freezer until the peaches are frozen, then transfer the sheet pan to the freeze-dryer and let the machine do the work. How long it takes depends on how big of a batch you are freeze-drying, but it could take over 24 hours for the process to be completed.

Freeze-drying isn't the same as dehydrating. Both preservation methods extend the life of your canned peaches and remove moisture content, but the flavor and texture of the end product differ. When fruit is dehydrated, it keeps roughly a third of its liquid, making peaches chewy and sweeter than normal. Freeze-drying them allows only a minuscule amount of water to remain, resulting in crisp fruit with a more natural flavor.

Once your canned peaches are properly freeze-dried, there are a couple of different ways to store them. The first is to simply put them in an air-tight receptacle like a Tupperware container and set them in your pantry so they are easily accessible anytime you want to dig in. The second method is to preserve them in Mylar bags. These are best for long-term storage as they are temperature-resistant, air-tight, and keep light from degrading the quality of your freeze-dried fruit. When properly stored in Mylar bags, the canned peaches will make for a sweet snack or an appetizing addition to a dessert for decades.