Thanksgiving is a very special time. It's become one of my favorite holidays. After all, what's not to like about spending time with people you love, eating your favorite foods, and having a little downtime. Of course shopping for the holiday feast comes to mind as one of those less-than-fun activities. Mostly because the stores are crowded, and if you didn't plan well you're in the thick of the fray looking for what you need.
This year I wasn't cooking. We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter, her fiance and his family. Our responsibility was to bring mashed potatoes, braised carrots, and homemade cranberry sauce. I also wanted to bring canned peaches. It's a tradition in our family started by my father-in-law. He likes canned peaches and he always wants them at the Thanksgiving table. Even though we weren't spending the holiday with him it's been adopted as a permanent part of our family tradition. One which we wanted to share.
I haven't made canned peaches in a while so we had none on hand. This meant buying them at the grocery store. Something I haven't done in a very long time. I was stunned by the sheer number of canned peaches available at the store. I was amazed at the ingredients in them. I thought I'd share the results of my canned peaches shopping expedition so you can see what's really in that food.
It's important to note that peaches are one of the dirty dozen foods (those foods highly contaminated by pesticides). I did not find any organic canned peaches at my local grocery store. Also, the notes about these containers do not include the issue of BPA which is often found in plastic containers, the linings of cans, and the lids of glass jars. Therefore all these containers are equal in respect to those issues.
Note: If you want to read the labels you'll need to click on the images to enlarge them.
Above you have the information you need to make the right choice for you depending on what's important to you. For those who want to take it one step further it is possible to make your own canned peaches. There are many recipes out there on how to do this, one of my favorites is the Ball Blue Book Honey Spiced Peaches recipe substituting evaporated cane juice crystals instead of white sugar.
Mitch, wow, how nice that your kids did the majority of the cooking, what a fun experience for you. And it sounds like you had a happy and healthy holiday meal.
What is in the can? A great title!
This year we went organic.
From the turkey all the way through the side dishes
and the desserts. It was the idea of our children and
they actually did the majority of the cooking.
Katherine, your pickled peaches sound delicious. Perfect for the holidays.
One thing to remember when canning your own is that the lids usually have BPA in them. The only source I’ve seen that is a BPA free lid is from http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/. And, as the URL implies, they’re also reusable.
Be well,
Mira
WOW!! I grew up eating a LOT of peaches from a can. I do love the way they taste, but I haven’t had any in a LONG time. I just don’t buy or eat very much from cans any more. Thanks for breaking it down!!
My family has a tradition of making “Pickled Peaches” which are basically canned peaches with vinegar, cinnamon, and clove added to the usual sugar and water. I haven’t made any in a long time, but they sure are good, too… and probably a better alternative to most of the above!
VERY interesting! Thanks!
XO, Katherine.
It’s so interesting you should write this. I just had my husband by some canned fruits for the Boy Scouts who were collecting food from needy families right before Thanksgiving and I noticed everything had high-fructose corn syrup in it. I feel bad even donating that stuff to people.
I love this side-by-side comparison and I think it’s a great way to educate folks about really slowing down and actually reading the label!
I’m guessing after this exercise there were no canned peaches on the table this year!
I would have broken the tradition and not bought the peaches. I’ve never been able to eat canned peaches since the 90’s song “Peaches” something about “Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man, in a factory downtown,” just didn’t sit right with me. Had they written the lyrics, “peaches come from a tree, they were grown there just for me, by the miracle of nature” I’d be eating a lot more… just sayin’
WOW! This highlights so many problems with what we call “food”. Between added chemicals, sugar and the cans they are in, we are taking a risk each time we eat something from a box or can. Such a great reminder to read labels.
Wow! I’ve not bought canned fruit in a long time because of the corn syrup/sugar added. But goodness I didn’t think about pears and their contamination. Sad….