When Baking, Reach For Frozen Peaches Over Canned

Whether you're biting into a juicy raw peach, buying a jar of canned ones off a roadside fruit cart, or eating a delicious cobbler, the flavor of this summer stone fruit is unrivaled. But peach season only lasts so long, and not all forms of this fruit are equal in the kitchen — in fact, the best type can really depend on what you're making. Sofia Schlieben, Corporate Pastry Chef at JF Restuarants, recommends using frozen peaches rather than canned when it comes to baking.

"I like frozen peaches ... as they tend to retain a better texture and flavor when thawed and baked," Schlieben told Food Republic. There are several benefits to following her advice: Canned peaches are pre-cooked, making them more likely to become soft and overly mushy in the heat of the oven. In contrast, frozen peaches, which are raw, can hold their form better as they cook, lending your dish a more satisfying texture. Frozen peaches are also worth stocking up on because they're harvested at the peak of ripeness and tastiness.

Flavor balance is also a concern. Canned peaches are generally stored in either heavy or light syrup. Heavy syrup is a combination of water, corn syrup, and sugar, whereas light syrup tends to be just water and sugar. Either way, if your recipe already calls for plenty of sweetener, using canned peaches — especially in heavy syrup — can push the dish into the territory of saccharine.

When baking with frozen peaches, it's not strictly necessary to thaw them beforehand, as they'll eventually defrost in the oven anyway. However, there can be some benefits to doing so. Thawing peaches breaks them down, giving them some of that fresh-peach juiciness you might be missing (or if you don't want those extra juices, you can drain them away). Not thawing the peaches can slightly lengthen the cooking time by 10 to 15 minutes, as the fruit will release more water as it cooks from frozen. If you do thaw your peaches, don't be alarmed if they take on a brown hue; this is natural oxidation and totally harmless.

While peach crisp, pie, or crumble is already perfect on its own, for those looking to add another frozen fruit to the mix, blueberries and mangos both happen to pair beautifully with peaches. Neither require thawing before adding to your baking pans, but using them when still frozen can also prolong the bake time.

If you're looking to add other unexpected twists, Alton Brown's smoky fruit pie recipe contains a single ingredient that elevates the dessert: paprika. The spice gives the filling a complex, grilled flavor. Another tasty trick is to replace the crust in a peach cobbler with store-bought cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls impart that spice-laden bite that your cobbler craves. The cinnamon rolls can also be broken into pieces to make individual peach cobblers in cupcake trays, mugs, or bowls.