Stevia Sweetened Canned Peaches

Last year, a kind friend taught me how to water bath can. I only did twelve jars of spiced peaches because I was so overwhelmed by my new skill and decided that this year I would do more. I only had one phobia keeping me from succeeding ... the copious amount of sugar needed to make them taste good!

I really have a hard time canning beautiful, fresh peaches in a calorie empty, teeth decaying syrup. So, I set out to can them without sugar.

I first tried honey. They turned out good, with a slight honey flavor, but it was the cost that scared me this time ... almost $12 for the syrup. Yikes!

So I thought, "I use stevia leaf to sweeten my teas ... why not use it to sweeten the peaches?" And that is exactly what I did.

I buy the leaf in bulk from my local health food store. Three tablespoons of tea, the amount needed for about seven jars of peaches, cost me a whopping $0.70! I did add some lemon juice to help the peaches retain their pretty color and of course I'm phobic, so I used fresh lemons which cost me about $1. So, besides the cost of the peaches and jars I spent $1.70 for seven quarts ... something I'm very pleased with.

Here's a run down of how to do it:

Before you do anything else, make the stevia tea. I used my Swissgold tea filter {which I can't live without!} and lined it with a coffee filter. This guarentees a clear, flavorful tea.

Put the tea inside the filter and filter inside a large measuring bowl. Slowly add the boiling water. Let this sit and steep while you continue on.

This is the other thing that made these peaches so yummy ... I peeled the skins into a strainer set over a bowl. When the strainer was about a quarter to half way full, I squeeze the skins to release any juice and pulp. From a large bowl of peaches I can get 2-3 cups of squeezed juice. I do not boil the peaches first to remove the skins ... I find there isn't that much fruit lost and since I squeeze out the extra juice I don't feel guilty at all about a little flesh on the skins. I also include lightly bruised flesh in the strainer. Overly bruised flesh goes in the trash.





If you have chickens, they LOVE the mashed skins. And it makes me feel super awesome knowing the only thing I'm throwing away is the pit or overly bruised flesh! Super awesome!

So once the peaches are done and you've mashed all the peels, set the juice aside. Fill seven jars, tightly compacted with the sliced peaches. I mean really compact the peaches down ... don't do it so much that you mash everything, but don't be afraid to get a ton of peaches into the jars. {See the steeping tea in the background?}

Once the jars are full of peaches, add any juice in the bottom of the bowl of peaches to the strained juice. Add the tea and lemon juice to the peach juice. The mixture will taste a little sour and like overly concentrated stevia tea, but when you process the jars this goes away, leaving the most delicious juice.

Like my new tool? It is the most awesome lemon strainer ever! I love it!

Add the juice/tea mixture to the jars and use a knife to remove any bubbles. Add more juice if needed, just above the peaches, but leaving about an inch of neck room.

Clean the rims and put on the lids, according to your water bath canners directions. Here are the peaches just before they went in the canner. See all the red lined flesh? It makes the mose pretty coral colored juice {See first picture above.} These peaches have a wonderful fresh flavor without any added calories or teeth decaying syrup. Just how I like it!

I freeze any left over juice/tea mixture to add to smoothies later. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Stevia Sweetened Canned Peaches

1/2 to 3/4 box of very ripe peaches
3 tbsp stevia leaf
6 cups boiling water
7 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Steep stevia leaf in the boiling water. While it steeps, peel and slice peaches into a large bowl, putting the skins in a strainer over a bowl. When strainer is about half full, mash the skins with your hand, squeezing out as much juice and pulp as possible. Once the peaches are cut up, put them into freshly sterilized jars, packing down the fruit to fit in as much as possible, but not going above the jars neck. Pour any juice that is in the bottom of the peach bowl into the bowl with strained peach juice. Add 5-6 cups of the stevia tea and lemon juice. The mixture should be a little sour and overly sweet tasting. This mellows after processing. Pour the juice/tea mixture into the jars, using a knife to release any trapped bubbles. Continue preparing jars for a water bath by cleaning rim and placing lids on. Process according to your elevation and water bath canner directions.