Peach Honey

I read long ago about making something called Peach Honey from the peels of Peaches. And so since I can peaches each yr cuz they are my most favorite fruit, I saved the peels in the freezer till I had time to do something with them. Im glad I did. I'm still not sure what Ill use this on but its tasty. Would be nice on pancakes or waffles or used on ice cream or cakes. It does taste rather honey-like and it does taste of peaches too.

I compared some honey to this and honey does have a more distinctive taste but that could be the honey I use too. I buy a Blackberry honey from a local guy. But this is very similar and the texture if you reduce it down enough is just like it too. So I could see me doing this more often and with other fruit. I bet others would taste yummy too. However it does use sugar and if you dont use it.....you wont be able to make this. Its the reduction of the sugar with the liquid that makes that syrup consistency. (I read that you could use honey too but you would need quite a few cups of it so that makes it quite pricey for people to make.)  Im not sure that it would work with anything else. But then this is a treat, not something you would use all the time so I figured some sugar wont hurt me.

There's not many ingredients and not much work. The hardest part is straining the juices.

Peach Honey (amount depends on how much juice you get) 
Peach peelings saved from lots of peaches (I had about two cases worth of peaches these were saved from)
Water to cover the peelings + plus more to keep it covered if it starts to evaporate.
Sugar...half as much sugar as fruit juice.

Put peach peelings in a large pot and cover with water. You want them to cook awhile till they are very soft and the water has flavor. I tasted it as I cooked it. It wont taste great but it will taste peachy. I wanted to extract as much peach flavor as possible so I let it simmer till it reached a flavor I liked.

Don't be disappointed by what you taste, the sugar will improve it. In fact what I did was take a tiny bit of juice in a spoon and put a little bit of sugar in that same spoon and mixed it, then tasted it. It helped me decide when it had enough peach flavor and when it was ready. ...maybe an hr or so. 

Strain the juices. First I strained all the lg. pieces out so there was only cloudy juice left. Then I strained it again in a strainer lined with coffee filters. This might take some time. I wanted as clear of a juice as I could get. But you do need some bits it in so dont think your making it like a jelly. Its ok to squeeze and push it thru. The tiny bits are what help it be more like honey and hold the syrup consistency. 

Once its gone thru the final straining, measure it as you put it in a lg. pot to reduce. Put in half the amt. of sugar as juice. For instance, I had 5 c. of juice after straining so I added 2 1/2c. sugar to it. Bring to a boil and stir well till sugar is dissolved. Then let it go to a rolling simmer till it reaches the thickness of syrup that you need. I took some out on a spoon and put it in the freezer to get cold. Then I checked the thickness on the spoon. 


The more juice you have of course the longer it will take to reduce. Watch it tho because you dont want it to burn. Sometimes as it reduces it starts to really foam up so lower the heat a bit then. But really its not hard.

When its the thickness you want, can it in some small jars and seal. Water bath for 10min. if you want. I didn't . I did an old fashioned way of turning the sealed jars upside down for 15min. or so then righting them again. The heat seems to seal them and I hear the tops pinging as it does. Some say this isn't good to do tho so which process you use is up to you. I feel there is enough sugar in there to preserve it but if your unsure.....then water bath it.

Processing Peaches, Peppers and more....

I bought two boxes of Alberta peaches last week. These were beauties right off the trees locally. Some were as big as soft balls. I almost hated to cut them up. I lost a couple on the bottom of one box tho , they started to go bad but still I had tons to do. So I started out peeling them.

Dipping them in hot water for 30sec. and then into cold water, and the skins slip off ez. Ive saved all the skins to add to some I had in the freezer. Later on when all this canning dies down some, I want to make Peach honey, which is basically jelly. You cover the skins with water and cook them down and strain it to use the juice to make the jelly. 

 I sliced these up and put them in qt. jars. A friend told me he makes a light honey syrup. Last year I did a sugar syrup which was good but I think honey is better. So I bought a big bottle from the local honey guy at the farmers market. Only 7qts fit in the water bath canner so I did those with the honey syrup. When I was making more syrup for the rest I thought why not add cinnamon to the rest so I did. I got 12qts sliced peaches, 7 plain, 5 cinnamon. One didn't seal so I'm eating it with my yogurt this week.(Honey syrup for a light syrup is 1qt. water/3/4c. honey)

Then I peeled the other box and cut them up. They got tossed in the crock-pot with the leftover honey syrup, to cook down overnight. Today I added some organic sugar, some cinnamon and then I thought it needed something more so I added one tsp. of pumpkin pie spice. Its yummy. So these got canned in two batches in small half pts. I figure Ill use several as Christmas gifts this yr. 

 While I had the canner going I remembered I had peppers still in a big bag in the garage. They ripened even more and many turned yellow. There were also a couple reds and a few greens. I saved the green to freeze, roasted the others. I made a brine of 1c. lemon juice, 1c. white vinegar, 1c. homemade chive vinegar (could be 2c. white instead), 1c. olive oil, 2tsp. kosher salt and 3 sliced garlic cloves. I put some opal basil in the bottom of a couple of small jars then topped with the peppers. Then I poured the hot brine over them and sealed to water bath them too. 

I hated to waste the brine tho cuz I didn't have enough peppers to use it up so I had about 1lb. mushrooms. I sliced them up and tossed them in the brine. Then I added a few peppercorns and a few springs of thyme. I let them cook then filled two small jars with the mushrooms and topped them with the hot brine. Peppers and mushrooms were water-bathed for 20min. plus 5 extra just sitting in the hot water to ensure a good seal.

One slice of mushroom stuck to the pot so I tasted it......and omg they are really yummy! So I'm thinking I may do this again real soon when the big crush of canning is done here. They are worth keeping around. I use those peppers in omelets and salads and I use both in antipasto platters. Its nice to have my own around.

Tomorrow is tomato sauce. I have to get them going before they go bad. I have jars for it but I need to run more jars thru the dishwasher. Busy busy week here.  

Honeyed Fruit Preserves

This recipe came about by accident but its a happy accident and may end up being one of my favorites. I bought some plums and peaches last week. These are my favorite fruit and I'm always tempted when they first show up in the stores. I should know better. These fruits are smaller and often mealy or sour. Sometimes they don't even have much taste. But I didn't want to throw them out, so I decided to try to save them in a jam. They were also very ripe which I think is what ended up making this a good jam.

I also had a big bag of cherries that I pitted last yr. I remember sitting on my back deck in the sun all day doing those. I forgot about them till now. I don't want to lose them so I decided to toss some in this jam. It was a good idea. The combo of fruit tho was very tart. I didn't want to just add sugar tho, I wanted more flavor. So I taste tested some fruit with honey in a sm. dish. Good idea!

The honey enhanced the peaches so they tasted more peachy. I wanted more tho. So I added a touch of vanilla to it and found that the cherries tasted more cherry like too. I often add a touch of vanilla to the end of my jams. I find it mellows the flavors. You could can these in smaller jars. I just used the pts. because it was all I had here right now that I had lids for. But honestly the cherries stay whole and I think smaller jars would just end up with all cherries . The cherries do make this a nice rosy colored jam.

Honeyed Fruit Preserves Makes 4 pts.

5c. of juicy peaches, plums and cherries, must be very ripe
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp. butter
1 box of low sugar pectin
1c. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla

At this point I hope you have your jars ready and the water bath canner boiling.

Peel peaches and plums, remove pits and cut into chunks. Rather than add juice to this recipe as Ball suggests, I suggest using very ripe fruit so it makes its own juices. Pit cherries if they are fresh. I had frozen ones ready to use. I used about 3c. peaches and plums, 2c. cherries for this recipe. Mix together in a lg. pot and turn on heat.  

 Add lemon juice and stir. Add pectin and stir well. Bring to a hard rolling boil you cant stir down. When you reach that point add the honey and stir well. Bring back to a boil and boil 2-3 min. Skim foam if it appears. Add vanilla and stir well. Take off the heat. Fill jars, wiping rims well and top with lids. Water bath 10 min. Let sit in water bath canner for 5min. more to ensure a good seal. Remove and put on a towel on your counter to cool. Check seals and store.

Don't panic when you see how loose it is after canning. I was afraid perhaps the pectin wasn't enough because it actually was more watery after canning than before. But I do know many times it takes some time to jell........sometimes up to two wks. So I let these cool overnight on the counter and this morning they are fine. So give it time if you see that with yours.

Canned Peaches

I know lots of you have made them. Honestly tho this is the first time Ive canned peaches in syrup. And so I thought Id post the recipe for those that might be interested.

Canned Peaches Makes 6 qts.

10lbs yellow peaches
Fruit fresh or ascorbic acid
2c. organic sugar
6c. water

Rinse peaches. Get a big pot of water boiling. Then get a lg. bowl of water with ice. When the pot is boiling put in a few peaches at a time, whole for about 30 sec. If your peaches are nice and ripe, that's plenty of time. Immediately put them in the ice water. Continue with all peaches.

Peel peaches and slice into a bowl, tossing pits away. Sprinkle with a few tsps of Fruit Fresh to keep the color from turning brown. Once all fruit is peeled and sliced, start water bath canner.

 Turn oven on an heat to 200 degrees. Get jars ready by washing with hot water. Put on a tray and put in oven to keep warn while waiting for water bath to boil. 

 Get another lg. pot and put in 2c. sugar and 6c. water and bring to a boil. When water bath canner is boiling, pull out jars from oven and get ready to fill. Put all peaches in the hot syrup and cook for 5 min. more. This is the Hot Pack Method. Fill hot jars with hot peaches and syrup. Run spatula around inside of filled jar to remove any air bubbles and be sure its filled to within 1/2in. of top of jar. Seal.

Place all filled jars on rack in water bath rack and put in the water. If its not boiling, bring up the heat and when it starts to boil again, start the count down. Process depending on your altitude. Remove from canner when time is up and let cool, check seals.  

Table 1. Recommended process time for Peaches, halved or sliced in a boiling-water canner.
–		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints Quarts	20 min 25	25 30	30 35	35 40
Raw	Pints Quarts	25 30	30 35	35 40	40 45

White Peach Butter

Ive been wanting to make peach butter. I saw peaches for $1 lb. in the grocery store so I decided to buy a bunch. When I got there there was a note that it wasn't the yellow peaches that were on sale but white ones. I was a bit bummed cuz I love regular peaches. But I decided to go ahead and buy these anyway.

I came home to do some research on recipes using these. I found out white peaches are less acidic and more delicate in flavor. I also found out there's next to no recipes for using these. And so I decided to make the butter anyway using the info I did find to create my own recipe.  The flavor is very mild without the bite like yellow peaches have. So to create a bit more interest I used just a touch of cinnamon and vanilla. You don't want much or you will overwhelm the peach flavor.

White Peach Butter Makes 12 half pts.

10lbs. white peaches
2 1/2c. organic sugar
Fruit Fresh
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Juice of one lemon

First peel the peaches. I do this by letting them sit in boiling water for a few min. then plunging into ice water. I have found tho if they are not ripe enough, they will be harder to peel. So those I put back in the water a bit longer. Yes it does cook them a bit but since your going to be doing that anyway, it doesn't matter.

Once peeled, I pit them and cut them into small chunks. I added 2 tsp. of Fruit Fresh to keep the color from turning brown. You could use ascorbic acid too. Add the sugar, stir and let macerate overnight. Next day, put in a large pot and heat to boiling. I cooked these down in my crockpot. I didn't want to have to stand there watching them or burn them. So once the peaches have boiled, pour all that into the crockpot and turn it on to HIGH.

Add cinnamon and vanilla to peaches in crockpot. Leave the lid partially off so the steam can escape. I put a small wooden spoon on the rim and rested the lid on it. Cook for at least 5hrs. Near the end you will still have chunks of peaches. I used a hand held blender to puree what didn't break down. It should be very thick. If your not sure, then take a bit out and chill. Add the lemon juice and cook a bit more till as thick as you want. It will get even thicker once cool.

Wash jars with soap and water and put on a tray in a 200 degree oven to keep hot. Get your water bath canner going too. Once all equipment is ready and peaches are thick, pour into jars with canning funnel. Wipe all edges clean and seal. Place in water bath canner. Check to see if water is boiling once they are in the canner. Time 20min. from that point on.

When done remove to a towel on the counter and let cool. Check seals. 

I had a bit left over since I had a bit more than 10lbs. so I just put it in a container to use right away. This morning its nice and thick and the flavor is so yummy. I stirred it into my yogurt for breakfast. Awesome!

Rustic Almond/Peach Galette or what to do with a bag of peaches....

Yesterday somebody rang our doorbell and my bf got to it before me. Some boys handed him a bag of peaches right from the tree, still had a few leaves as you can see. I'm not sure what boys they were but its probably someone lil man played with. I got to the door late and didn't really see them good. So it sort of bugs me cuz I don't know who to thank. But it was nice of them.

I find out tho my bf doesn't like peaches. OMG.........they are my fav fruit, that and nectarines. If I get a choice of one of those I always pick them. I have to use them soon and my bf left again for a few days. Every time I think its the last trip....there's another that's supposed to be the last trip lol. So while hes gone I figure I might as well bake something with these. I decided on a galette instead of just a pie. I wanted something special since there's less than a dozen peaches.

I wandered online looking at peach recipes and picked a lil of this and that and decided to put it together to make my own. Here's the result.

This galette is awesome. Its not real sweet and yet its rich. The pure peach flavor comes thru followed by a bit of almond and sweet. The crust is a bit crunchy due to the cornmeal and tastes alot like shortbread cookies but not sweet at all. I didn't make the topping but you can if you want.

The crust is thicker on the sides but with spreading the almond paste up the side you get some of that with it. This is rich but so good.

Rustic Almond/Peach Galette Makes 6-8 servings

For almond paste:
1/2c. whole almonds
1/2c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 egg

For crust:
1 1/2c flour
1/4c. yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tb. sugar
10tb. unsalted butter
Ice water if needed

For filling:
8 fresh peaches, peeled and pitted, then sliced
A nice drizzle of honey..maybe 1-2tb.
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Topping after baking:
1c. creme fraiche or sour cream
4tb. sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
For the almond paste put almonds and sugar in a food processor and process till ground fine. Add extract and egg and process till blended. Put in a sm. bowl for later.
For crust put first 4 ingredients in the processor and mix well. Add the butter all at once making sure its still cold when you add it. Process till butter is worked into other ingredients and beginning to hold together. Add ice water a tb. at a time if needed to make the dough stick together. Chill dough while making filling.

Peel and pit peaches then slice into 1/2in thick slices. Drizzle with the honey and cinnamon and mix well. Put aside.


I used one 10in. pie plate. Take dough out and sprinkle board with flour. Put dough on flour and roll gently. This dough is sticky and doesn't roll well but at least try to get a rustic circle to put in the pie plate. You wont be able to roll it out completely. Put the partially rolled dough in the pie plate. Press from center out to sides to make it fit the pan. Work your way up and let the edges roll over the pie plate and look messy. Its alright, its a rustic pie and the raggedy bits wont matter. Patch and push as you go till it covers the pie plate and has some hang over.

Spread the almond paste in the bottom. Work some of that partially up the sides too. Then top with the peach filling. Gently bring the ragged edges over the pie. Pull the dough away from the edges too so its a flat pie. Patch if you need too and don't worry. It all looks good after baking and part of the charm is its rustic. When you have it done how you like, sprinkle some sugar over the whole thing and put in the oven.

Bake for 40-50 min. till brown and bubbly.

Mix sour cream and sugar and top the galette if you like. Honestly tho it doesn't really need it. This just adds another layer of flavor tho.

Wild Greens and Proscuitto with Honey Peach Vinaigrette

This was another dressing I made at the restaurant. OMG I love this dressing and salad. I couldn't find a picture close to it but we served it with the chunks of peach in the dressing and a prosciutto rose. You could just serve it like the picture with slices of peach and shreds of prosciutto. But it doesn't look as pretty as what I served. The dressing here tho is a creamy one.

Wild Greens and Prosciutto with Honey Peach Vinaigrette Serves 2-4

Dressing:
2 egg yolks
1/4tsp. Coleman mustard
1tsp. whole grain mustard
2 1/2oz. honey
1/2c. champagne vinegar
8oz. of a bland salad oil....like pure olive oil not virgin or corn oil
dash of salt and pepper to taste
a dash of fresh grated nutmeg
1 lg. peach, peeled, pitted and chopped

Salad:
fresh wild greens salad mix
1 slice of prosciutto for each salad as a garnish



Directions:
Combine egg yolks, mustards, and honey, blending well. Begin adding oil and vinegar alternately beginning with the oil, constantly whipping. Add seasonings and adjust if needed. Fold in peaches prior to serving and serve ice cold.

Put a nice mound of wild greens on a salad plate. Roll prosciutto slice into a rose shape and put on side of greens as garnish or .......shred and toss with greens. Top with Honey peach dressing and serve.