Doris and Jilly Cook » peaches

A Peach Chutney for Picnics

dorisandjilly — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:36:35 +0000

With the gorgeous fall weather we’ve been having, shouldn’t the chutney get to go outside, too? Having simmered on the stove for more than two hours, I thought it deserved a moment of sunshine before being banished to a dark corner of the basement. Next time it sees the light of day it will be tucked neatly into a cheese sandwich, on its way to lunch in the park.

This is a versatile, dependable chutney. Last year, I tossed in a lime. This time, for the September CanJam, I went with a more stripped-down version. No lime, no garlic, minimal ginger. And—because it had become increasingly clear that I was never going to use them any other way—I used dried gooseberries instead of raisins . . . but you should feel free to stick to raisins, or even currants. Given the amount of sugar and vinegar in this recipe, it’s fairly flexible and safe to make with other stone fruits, apples, and pears.

Peach Chutney

7 1/2 pounds peaches, peeled and coarsely chopped (or even squeezed)
1 pound raisins, currants, or dried gooseberries
3 3/4 c. cider vinegar
1 1/2 pound brown sugar
3 T mustard seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole clove
5 small fresh hot peppers, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1) Toss everything into a very large pot. This will need to cook for a long time, so you’re looking for your thickest, heaviest pot to ensure even heat distribution. Stir everything together and bring rapidly to a boil. Turn the heat town to medium and walk away. Occasionally return to stir a bit. Cook for about 2 hours, or until everything is gooey and a deep, dark brown.

2) Meanwhile, heat a boiling-water bath. Prepare your jars and lids. I needed 6 pints (actually 5 pints and 2 half-pints, for gifts). When the chutney is ready, transfer the hot chutney to hot jars. Adjust the two-piece lids and process for 15 minutes in the boiling-water bath.

Ask the Goats: Elderly Peaches

dorisandjilly — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:43:03 +0000

Ask the Goats is a weekly feature in which we answer your food-preservation questions. It usually appears on Mondays, but, being the day after Labor Day, we’re considering today Monday-ish. Send us your questions at dorisandjilly@gmail.com.

Q. We have canned peaches and jam that have been in our attic for over 20 years. The seals are still intact. Is it safe to eat?—Henry.

A. This is an easy one: No.

The USDA recommends that you keep your home canned goods for no longer than 1 year. Now, in truth, many home canners keep their canned goods for longer than that, and, depending on your product, there may be some wiggle room. Even so, there comes a point where common sense prevails. I’m guessing that these items are probably quite gray and soft. Aside from the question of whether they might be “safe,” ask yourself, “Is this something I would want to eat?” Canning does not have magical powers to stop the passage of time. Throw those suckers out, and while you’re at it, toss everything older than 2 years. It’s time to sterilize your jars and start fresh.

And remember, your canned goods will last longer if you store them someplace cool and dark, like a basement. Attics are not generally recommended because they suffer from dramatic temperature fluctuations.

Peach Sorbet

dorisandjilly — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:55:56 +0000

A spectacularly easy peach sorbet, made from homemade canned peaches. Note that this will only work if you canned your peaches in syrup—if you canned them in water, you’ll need to add at least a cup of sugar.

Peach Sorbet from Homemade Canned Peaches

2 pints or 1 quart canned peaches in syrup
1 T rum, brandy, or vodka

1) Puree everything (including all the peach syrup) in a blender.

2) Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Seriously. That’s it.

Peach Syrup

dorisandjilly — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:01:38 +0000

Should you be so lucky as to still have access to peaches, and should you decide to can some, may I recommend a) that you drown them in honey and b) that you can the leftover juice/syrup/nectar as a base for delicious cocktails for sometime in the future?

Peaches in Honey (for canning)

Straight out of the Ball Blue Book: Make a syrup with a ratio of 1 sugar to 2 honey to 4 water. Peel your peaches, cut them in half, and bring them to boil in the syrup. Transfer the peaches facedown to clean, hot jars and cover with syrup. Run a knife or spatula around the edges to remove air bubbles, then add more syrup if necessary. Adjust two-piece lids and process in a boiling water bath, 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts.

Peach Syrup

Now look in the pan. There’s still syrup! Drink it now, or drink it later. To can: transfer into clean, hot jars, adjust the lids, and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remember to remove the bands and wipe down the jars before storing them—they will be sticky.

Dehydrated Fruit

dorisandjilly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:55:01 +0000

The problem with dehydrated fruit is that the people who live with you tend to eat it before winter comes. The only solution? Dehydrate more fruit.

I’d give you drying times, but they’re sort of meaningless, since it depends on the variety, the thickness of the fruit, the ambient temperature, and how you plan to store them. What I can tell you is that you’ll get happier results if you leave the fruit in large pieces, even if it increases the drying time to 24–36 hours. The pears were pared, cored, and cut lengthwise into four pieces; same goes for the peaches; the plums were just cut in half. In any case, I wouldn’t go any thinner than 3/8″.

Visual cues may be more helpful.

This is what the plums looked like raw:

And this is what they looked like halfway through:

(Bonus: note changing light quality in afternoon vs. morning!)

The plums are done when they look like prunes. Both the pears and the peaches should be flexible, but not moist. Pop them in jars, label them, and hide them well.

Peach, Cherry, and Apple Compote

dorisgoat — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:55:51 +0000

My absolutely favorite way to eat fruit is over yogurt, so, when faced with the dwindling remains of the massive pile of fruit, I decided to combine the leftovers into a sort of “best of” fruit stew. You can preserve pretty much any kind of fruit this way: just pick some things that go together, throw them in a pot with some sugar, and cook them until they look like a stew. Then can them in a water bath or freeze. Dried fruit and/or nuts makes a particularly nice addition since it gives some texture.

The lighting doesn’t quite do these jars justice: they’re a really lovely combination of gold (from the peaches) and deep red (from the cherries). I’m thinking they’ll make beautiful and tasty yogurt parfaits.

Peach, Cherry, and Apple Compote

2 lbs peaches
1 lb cherries
Approx 1 c dried apples, cut into small pieces
2 c sugar

1) Peel the peaches by dipping them briefly in boiling water. Slip off the skins and cut them into slices or large chunks. Pit the cherries.

2) Throw everything in a pot and bring to a boil. You don’t want to cook it too long—just long enough that only some of the fruit breaks down and you get a nice, fruity syrup. This took about 20 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, if you plan to can the compote, sterilize some jars (mine made 4 pints) and heat up some lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. You can freeze, if you prefer.

Peach Chutney with Lime

dorisgoat — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:55:19 +0000

A good fruit chutney has many benefits. It’s a secret serving of a fruit, a piquant punch of flavor, and perhaps the ideal partner for a good cheddar cheese. It’s especially useful for cheap meals: a bowl of brown rice and dal gets a lot more interesting with a big plop of chutney on top.

I’ve been making variations on this version for a couple of years. Sometimes I use apples instead of peaches; sometimes I add citrus; sometimes I add a lot of peppers; sometimes I don’t. However you customize it, the key is to cook it FOREVER—I’m talking 3 hours—so that everything sort of melts into one big, gloppy mess. I’m sure I’ll go on another peach binge later this summer—any suggestions on how to tweak this?

Peach Chutney with Lime

5 lbs peaches
1 lb raisins
1 lime, chopped (with skin)
2 1/2 c cider vinegar
1 lb brown sugar
2 T mustard seeds
2–3 whole cloves
2–3 cinnamon sticks
3 small dried peppers
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 large onion, chopped

1) Throw everything in a large pot and bring rapidly to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and let simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occassionally. Add more water if necessary and boil more. Let it get very, very thick and spreadable.

2) Meanwhile, to can: sterilize some jars (this made 4 pints) and heat up some lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Freezing is also a possibility. Open jars will keep in the refrigerator for at least a month, maybe longer (ours never lasts that long, so I really have no idea how long it will keep).

Peach Sherbet (and freeze ahead)

dorisgoat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:57:51 +0000

Mmmmm….peach sherbet. Need I say more? You do need an ice cream maker, but once you’ve got that, you’re home free. And while it’s not such a great idea to fill your freezer with sherbet for later consumption (it will lose its texture and you’ll be disappointed), you can freeze the mixture and then churn it when you’re ready to eat it. Ice cream ahoy!

Peach Sherbet

2 lbs. fresh peaches
2/3 c. half-and-half
3/4 c. sugar

1) Peel the peaches by briefly dipping them in boiling water. The skins should slip right off.

2) Dissolve the sugar in the half-and-half by gently heating it over a low flame. It doesn’t need to boil; 5 minutes on low heat should do the trick.

3) Puree the peaches with the cream mixture in a blender until smooth.Then refrigerate until thoroughly cooled.

4) Churn in your ice cream maker according to the directions. It took about half an hour in mine.

How to Freeze Ahead

If, perchance, you have 20 pounds of peaches, you might want to make extra for later. Proceed through step three, then transfer the peach & cream mixture to freezer containers. Be sure to leave plenty of room for expansion—in a quart jar you should leave at least an inch. When you’re ready to make the sherbet, just thaw it, then run it through the blender to make sure you’ve removed all the ice chunks. It’s July in January!

A Jam Primer: Peach, Cherry, and Blueberry

dorisgoat — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:33:46 +0000

The difference between “jam” and “jelly” (not to be confused with “jilly”) is mainly in the preparation: when you make jam, you leave some of the fruit whole; when you make jelly, you start with fruit juice. Jelly is useful in cases of extreme frugality (if, for example, you want to make jelly from fruit skins rather than fruit itself), but otherwise I don’t really see the point. It’s more work and less flavor. So, in our house, we eat jam. Now, if you don’t cook your jam long enough, or don’t add pectin, you might end up with big pieces of fruit in syrup in the final product, in which case you end up with preserves…and if you’re working with more than one kind of fruit, you’ve got yourself either a “compote” or a “conserve.” All of these are delicious. Today, though, we’re going to concentrate on long-cooked, single-fruit products, aka, JAM.

Let’s talk a little bit about set. If you want a quick-cooking firm set, your best option is to use pectin. I’m not a huge fan of pectin, mainly because I like the concept of a jam made solely from fruit and sugar. Also, if I happen to mess up my jam, I would prefer that it be too loose rather than too hard. Ergo, I don’t use pectin. This means that my jam-making is somewhat unpredictable, depending on the weather, the ripeness of the fruit, and my patience in the kitchen. I didn’t cook the strawberry jam quite long enough, and it turned out more like a sauce (albeit a delicious one). Then I overcorrected with the gooseberries and ended up with something a bit more gluey (again, quite tasty, but difficult to spread). Cookbooks will tell you to cook your jam to 228°F, but I am convinced this is too long. All of these jams were cooked to somewhere between 215° and 218°F. The set is just about right—maybe a tad on the firm side, but more or less like what you would find in a store-bought jam. The real key is to get it above boiling. As soon as the thermometer moves above 212°, you’ll see a change in texture. If you like a soft set, you can stop right there. Don’t double the recipe, as you’ll never get there.

Before you dive in, check out this refresher on canning equipment from Food in Jars, one of my favorite blogs. She’s got lots of great advice on jams and all sort of preserves, so poke around her site if you’re feeling confused. And, as always, the National Center for Home Food Preservation has good advice. The instructions below are for the actual cooking part. When the jam is done, transfer them to hot, sterilized Mason jars, top with hot rubber-ringed lids, and process in a boiling water bath for 5 or 10 minutes, depending on whether you’re working with half-pint or pint jars. They’ll keep for at least a year or two without losing much flavor.

Cherry Jam

3 pounds sweet cherries
2 1/2 c. sugar
2 T lemon juice

Pit the berries and crush them (I like to use a potato masher). Put then in a big pot with the sugar and the lemon juice and bring rapidly to a boil. Cook until it reaches the gelling point (around 30 minutes, could be more depending on the fruit), then transfer to sterilized jars. Process. Makes 3 or 4 half-pints depending on how long you cook it.

Cherry and Blueberry Jam

2 pounds sweet cherries
2 c. blueberries
3 c. sugar

Pit the cherries and combine with the blueberries. Crush and transfer to a big pot. Add the sugar and bring rapidly to a boil. Cook until it reaches the gelling point (around 30 minutes). Transfer to clean jars and process. Makes 3 or 4 half-pints depending on how long you cook it.

Blueberry Lime Jam

The lime is subtle. It both adds a little bit of pectin and somehow brings out the flavor of the blueberries without adding an overt citrus flavor.

5 c. blueberries
5 c. sugar
1/3 c. lime juice
zest from one lime

Crush the berries. Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring rapidly to a boil. Because the sugar content it higher, this one will come to the gel point more quickly, somewhere in the vicinity of 20 minutes. This means you’ll get more jam: 4 or 5 half-pints. Process.

Peach Jam

6 c. peaches
4 c. sugar
2 T. lemon juice

Peel the peaches by dipping them briefly in boiling water (the skins should slide right off). Crush the peaches and combine the ingredients in a large pot. Bring rapidly to a boil and cook until you reach the gelling point: somewhere around 30 minutes. Makes 3 or 4 half-pints.

Fruit Extravaganza Preview

dorisgoat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:59:34 +0000

This is what 49 pounds of fruit looks like. My billy and I spent his day off from work picking 19 pounds of sweet cherries (a late-breaking discovery at Rowand Farms! Open Sunday!), 10 pounds of blueberries, and 20 pounds of peaches. Stay tuned next week for posts on peach sherbert, peach jam, cherry jam, blueberry lime jam, peach chutney, dehydrated cherries, freezing options for cherries and berries, and who knows what else.

Rowand doesn’t have a Web site, but it’s near Glassboro, New Jersey. Blueberries and peaches are from the ever-dependable Mood’s. All were a fabulous deal: $1.50/lb for cherries, $1.15/lb for blueberries, and $0.85/lb for peaches. Happy picking!