Peach season has arrived here in northeast Ohio, and we have some pretty good orchards around, so there’s lots available. I don’t have any homegrown peaches this year since I just planted the trees in the spring, so we hit up the store to grab a bunch of Redhavens. Much better than the California-grown stuff they usually have. Most of the first round is going into peach butter, and I’d also like to go back for some more to just can in slices. Since I’ve been making all these jams and butters, S has commented that we need to start eating them. I’m the person that makes PB & J for lunch, but is too lazy to get the jelly out, so it ends up being just a peanut butter sandwich. So I guess I need to get over that habit. And I told her we can have toast for breakfast. Lots of toast.
Peach Butter
About 4 pounds of peaches
4 cups sugar
That’s my kind of ingredient list.
Start by blanching the peaches (put them in a pot of boiling water for just a minute or two. This will loosen the skin). Remove the skins, pits, and slice, then put into a pot. I also mashed them up a bit with a potato masher to get the juices flowing. Bring to a simmer. After it’s simmered for a few minutes, it needs to be “pulped.” You can continue to use a potato masher, or transfer to a food processer or blender. I used our handy-dandy immersion blender (just pulse it, you don’t want to turn the mix into peach juice!).
From here, you can either keep it simmering until it’s reduced to the desired thickness, or do as I did, and move it to a crock pot. This was easier for me to work with – I kept it on high for a good five or six hours, and only had to check on it and stir occasionally.
When you’ve got it as thick as you want it, fill pint or half-pint jars, and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Peachy.
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