[ Modest ] Make

Day 1: peachy keen

Item 8: preserved peach with brandy sauce

I really didn’t plan on starting this blog until next month. I’m in the middle of moving right now and this is the kind of distraction I don’t need/want. I figure I’ll work on this once I’ve settled into my new home, with my new kitchen, with all my kitchen tool and recipe books properly unpacked. Besides, of all 36 recipes, I really shouldn’t start with the one that involves jars of preserves–ie a recipe that results in extra boxes to lug to the new place.

But I couldn’t resist. A few friends and I hit up the peach festival outside Hamilton and that put me in a peachy state of mind. (The Winona Peach Festival was kinda a dud. Aside from a peach sundae tent and a few peach pie/jam/jelly vendors, the festival was surprisingly devoid of its namesake fruit. But that peach sundae was very delicious. And huge!) So I bought a basket of peaches from a roadside vendor on our way back to Toronto and got started on this. (That’s the other thing–there weren’t too many people selling actual fresh peaches at the peach festival. Weird.)

I followed the 1951 brandied peach recipe from the New York Times, which was recently republished with updated safety instructions. It calls for 3 pounds of ripe peaches and 3 cups of sugar. I usually cringe at adding that much sugar to my food. But sugar is a hygroscopic molecule–that is, it attracts water–and that’s useful in preserving food. Hence I didn’t mess with this recipe at all. I did scale it down a bit because the peaches that I got weren’t completely ripe and a few were too green for making preserves.

(For some good basic backgrounder information, especially when it comes to food safety, I checked out the Jam Session episode of Good Eats. Design*Sponge also has a good post on canning along with a few additional links.)

Difficulty: The recipe was relatively painless. The process was complicated by my obsessive need to boil all the jars and tongs before I work with them (which the NYT recipe didn’t call for). I created a small soupy mess when I peeled and sliced the peaches. Otherwise, everything was pretty straightforward and the instructions were easy to follow.

Room for improvement: I’m disappointed by the presentation. The jars look a little half empty. I treated the peaches too delicately and didn’t pack them tightly enough. Turns out they shrank considerably during the final water bath. I think I’ll either use fewer jars or more peaches the next time. Nonetheless, this is a good effort for my first solo canning job.

Tastiness: I haven’t tried it out yet. I figure I can let this soak up the brandy sauce for a few more days before I crack open the first jar. I’ll add an update to this post later.

Items I purchased specifically for this recipe: peaches, brandy, 1 dozen canning jars, tongs (only because I, strangely, don’t have any)

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