Peaches and _____________ .

You fill in the blank.  What do you love with peaches?  Cobbler?  Brown sugar and sour cream? Nothing? Whatever your choice, you can have yummy peaches year round when you know how to freeze them. 
I'll preface this by saying that I'm a better freezer person than canner.  My mother and grandma were canners extraordinaire when I was growing up but apparently that gene skipped me. I've shown you how to do raspberries.  We'll do peaches today and then corn in a week or two when I get to it.  I tried to can peaches last year and have no idea what I did wrong but it was not pretty four months later when I pulled them out to make some cobbler.  So I'm sticking to freezing!
It also happens to be Peach Days this weekend up in Brigham City.  So you should probably head on up to Fruit Highway and grab yourself some of the best peaches west of the Mississippi.  My favorite variety is called an Angeles.  WOW.  It should be about the size of a small softball and have what looks like tiger stripes on it.  I also really enjoy Red Havens and Summer Sunsets.  Both of those are a little smaller and have a deep red side to them.  I know everyone always wants to wait for Lemon Elbertas but guess what people?  Compared to the others, lemons are just that- lemons.  They have little taste or color and are pretty much the lowest peach on the totem pole.

Here's what you need to freeze peaches:
Whatever variety and quantity of peaches you want
1/2 gallon orange juice
Large bowl
Cookie sheet
Freezer safe ziploc baggies

Step one: Place your peaches in a sink of warm water.  Not hot- just warm.  This will help the skin come off  and the pit come out easier.

Step two:  Slice, pit and peel your peaches and place them in the large bowl full of orange juice.  Just keep adding them to the juice until they've all been peeled.  The orange juice will prevent oxidation, or browning, and will also help preserve some of the texture and flavor.

Step three:  Place the peaches on a cookie sheet.  Slide them into your freezer, either your fridge or a deep freeze will work well.  I've found that if I'm used my fridge, them I leave them in for about 45 minutes to an hour.  If I'm using a deep freeze, then 30 minutes is plenty.  This is a process called flash freezing.

Step four:  Remove them from the freezer and place them in ziplocs.  I usually put 4-5 halves in one bag, depending on the variety of peach I used.  This morning I had Red Havens and they are small so they fit 5 nicely in a bag.

After this step, I place them in my freezer and leave them alone.  Typically I will try to keep them laying flat until they've frozen solid. 
And there you have it!  Peaches for winter.  I can honestly tell you, that peach raspberry cobbler I posted earlier this month tastes pretty dang good in January when you have frozen fresh fruit!