Let me show you what I did this weekend! In my first canning endeavor of the entire year, I turned these:
Into these:
For the third year in a row, I canned homemade spiced peaches. Jon and I love to eat them throughout the year…last year, the amount I canned only lasted until about January, so this year I made the largest batch yet: 32 pounds(!). My cousin Molly canned with me, and did an additional 16 pounds for herself.
Aren’t they beautiful?
We used the basic recipe for light syrup from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, and added half a cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice to each pint.
It took all day, but it was so worth it. Since we bought the peaches by the box, they were about $1 per pound, and they’re at their very best flavor. (I bought an additional 2 boxes to freeze. Can you tell we’re a little fanatical about our peaches?)
In the last year, we have started to experiment with using the leftover spiced peach syrup for other recipes, rather than just discarding it. Molly had the genius idea of making a peach syrup and whiskey reduction sauce, and putting it on chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. I can’t even talk about it. There aren’t words for that kind of thing. (But I’m drooling just thinking about it, does that help paint a picture of the goodness?)
I’m also a huge fan of using it in cocktails, with rum and iced tea, for example.
I am resting today, because it took a LONG TIME and I was pretty much on my feet all day. We will rest up, and go back at it with a huge batch of homemade ketchup next weekend. It’s going to be amazing.
What did you do this weekend, my dears? And what is your favorite way to eat peaches?
