Nectarines are one of my favorite fruits! They’re sweet and juicy but not overly so. One way you can preserve fresh nectarines is by home canning them using a water bath canner. The process is really easy. Once they’ve been properly processed, they’re shelf stable for 1-2 years. That’s right…shelf stable for a couple of years! They’re 100% better tasting than any fruit that you buy in a can at your local grocery store.

This recipe will yield approximately 6 pint or 3 quart jars. You can easily cut the recipe in half if you have less than the required amount of nectarines. You’ll find over 50+ home canning recipes on the TwoClassyChics blog!

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Nectarines Recipe

18 medium to large fresh nectarines
Ball Fruit-Fresh Produce Protector
1 batch of Light Syrup for Canning (see below)

Light Syrup – 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar mixed with 5 1/4 cups of water. This will yield approximately 6 1/2 cups of syrup. To make the syrup…mix the granulated sugar and water together in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes to get all of the granulated sugar to dissolve. Reduce heat to a low simmer.

Wash nectarines with cold running water to remove dirt. Place them in a colander to allow the water to drain. Place on a cutting board and cut each nectarine in half. Twist the fruit to loosen up the pit. Remove the pit. Use a teaspoon to remove any fiberous strings that were around the pit. Keep the skins on. I find these can better if left in halves. Place nectarines halves in a bowl with water and Ball Fruit-Fresh Produce Protector (instructions on how much to use will be on the package). This will keep them from darkening.

Prepare the light syrup as stated above.

Place the nectarine halves into the prepared hot syrup for 2-3 minutes. You need the fruit to get hot but don’t cook it! Pack the hot nectarines pit side down into hot jars. Ladle the hot syrup into the jar. De-bubble. You need to leave a 1/2″ headspace in each jar. Wipe the rim clean, add the seal and band until it’s finger-tip tight. Repeat until all of the jars are filled.

Process all of the jars in a water bath canner. Pints need to be processed for 20 minutes, quarts need to be processed for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the cover. Let jars cool for 5 minutes sitting in the canner. Remove jars and place them on a cotton towel sitting on your countertop to cool. Once 12 hours have passed…check all jars to make sure that they sealed properly.

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Last month I used my slow cooker aka the crockpot to make a batch of homemade apple butter. It’s REALLY easy to make your own plus you can control how much sugar you want to add! Once you have it made…you can refrigerate it (for a few days), freeze it or can it using a water bath canner. I like to can it for use throughout the winter season.

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First things first…get the apples! We have an apple tree in our backyard. It’s a baking apple variety. I like to pick apples from the tree and mix-in a few Gala apples that I pick-up at the Farmer’s market. I think combining the two balances out some of the tartness you can get by using baking apples. Just my 2 cents on that!

Peel and core the apples. Chop them into 1/2″ to 1″ chunks. Place them into the slow cooker crock-pot with just enough water to cover them. You don’t want to add a slew of water! As the apples cook down they make even more liquid (juice), so only add enough water to cover them. I turn it on high for the first hour and then turn it down to the low setting for an additional 2 hours. You need the apples to be soft and squishy once they’ve cooked.

I use a slotted spoon to scoop out the apple chunks transferring them to my Ninja Blender. Don’t transfer any of the water! Fill up the blender container and blend until smooth. Pour the water out of the slow cooker. Transfer the smooth apple mixture (basically unsweetened applesauce) back into the slow cooker. Add granulated sugar (to taste) and ground cinnamon (to taste). These amounts vary depending on your taste buds and how many apples you used. Stir everything together and place the lid back on top.

Turn the heat setting to medium or high. Every 30-45 minutes stir the mixture in the crockpot to keep it from scorching or getting too sticky. You’re basically cooking it now to evaporate out any remaining liquid and to thicken it up. You also want to it darken-up in color, so don’t add any fruit-fresh or lemon juice. This process takes me about 2 hours to complete. It’s done when you can get it to MOUND UP on a spoon.

You can spoon it into small freezer containers, let it cool and then freeze or you can follow your water bath canner’s instructions to can it. I personally can it using small jars in my water bath canner processed for 10-12 minutes. You can check out my Home Canning Apple Butter Recipe on the blog.

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