I just acquired a HUGE box of peaches. Being deluged with peaches isn’t new to me because our old house had a large peach tree in back, but today I’m making things with peaches! Wish me luck.
If you have peaches to can/prepare, the first step will always be blanching – EHow has a good article (with pictures) on how to accomplish this!
After blanching, peeling and sectioning a ton of peaches, I made these two recipes –
Fresh Peach Chutney
adapted from Epicurious
yield: Makes 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 large sweet red pepper, seeded, diced 1/4 inch, about 1/2 cup
- 1 small white onion, peeled and diced, about 1/2 cup
- 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced, 2 tablespoons
- 1/3 cup white raisins
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 pounds firm, fresh peaches, blanched to remove the skin, pit removed, sliced into wedges
Put the vinegar and both sugars into a non-reactive pot, place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the red pepper, onion, jalapeño (I actually added a roasted chili pepper I had that needed to be used), raisins, garlic, ginger, salt and simmer 10 minutes. Add the peach segments and simmer an additional 5-10 minutes. If the peaches are still firm allow to cook several minutes more. If you would like the syrup thicker you may also allow to cook for a minute or two to reduce liquid. ** I also ended up cooking it quite a bit longer than this, so it reduced and the sauce got thicker.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pot. Serve at room temperature. Transfer all excess to a clean container and refrigerate, covered, for up to one week.
Martha Stewart (with modifications when it didn’t work)
Ingredients
3 1/2 pounds peaches (8 to 10), peeled, halved, pitted, and cut into chunks
1 1/4 pounds sugar (scant 3 cups)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt
Directions
Working in batches, pulse peaches in a food processor until chunky. Transfer to a small saucepan, and add sugar, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil, continuing to stir, until bubbles slow, foam subsides, fruit rises to the top, and jam sticks to a spoon when lifted, about 12 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerate until completely cooled.
**The bad news is after all of this, mine didn’t set, at all. I happened to have some geletin on hand and so dumped it in and reheated. However, it still didn’t really set. Oh well, I now have some fabulous peach sauce to put on pancakes and ice cream!
Today I’m making peach bread – I’ll report back on how that goes!
