Yesterday I woke-up early with the word peaches on my lips, only to fall back to blissful weekend slumber. An hour later, my hopes dashed of obtaining my 20 pound box of "seconds" (they go quickly) we headed to the farmer's market. As luck would have it I arrived late and got my box. "Seconds" incidentally, are the delicious, albeit less-than-perfect peaches sold in bulk for 25 bucks a box. Last year I came the same Forbidden Fruit stall to purchase their lovely fruit. You should see how these guys handle their peaches, like they're little balls of newborn; so tender and filled with promise. This year I decided I wanted to make fruit butter; the less-sugar cousin to jam that goes well with savory dishes as well as toast. Here's how to do it:
Simple Peach Butter
10 lbs. fresh peaches, approximately 25 medium peaches, or 16 C. crushed
5 C. sugar
1 lemon, juiced
Skin peaches by immersing them whole into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove them into a bowl of cool water. While the peaches are cooling, prepare in a large bowl 2 cups of water and the juice of 1 lemon, this will prevent the peaches from browning. Peel and pit the peaches placing them in the lemon water.
In a large (10 quart) stainless steel pot, crush the pitted peaches 1 cup at a time using a potato masher. Keep track of the number of cups of peaches you crush in the event you need to adjust the proportions of sugar to fruit. I’ve read many recipes that call for a ratio of 1/2 cup sugar to 1 cup of crushed fruit. I’ve reduced the amount here as I prefer a fruitier tasting butter; feel free to make your own adjustments.
On medium heat bring the crushed peaches to a boil being careful not to scorch them. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. When the peach/sugar mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat and transfer 3/4 of the mixture to shallow baking dishes and place in the preheated oven. Stir the butter every 15 minutes. As it cooks down add the reserved peach/sugar mixture. When the butter mounds nicely in a spoon it’s ready. This will take 1-1 1/2 hours depending on the moisture content of your peaches.
When the butter is at the correct consistency, hot-pack as instructed in my Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam recipe or bottle in sterilized glass containers and once cooled store in the refrigerator. Makes 12, 1/2 pint jars
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