Thursday, July 30, 2009

Peach Butter

As I mentioned yesterday, we were given some wonderful peaches! I froze about half and decided to try peach butter with the other half. I used my apple butter recipe with a couple of modifications - yum!

Peel, remove pits and dice about 8-10 lbs. peaches (about 8 cups). Place the diced peaches in a bowl of water (maybe 3 or 4 cups).

Remove water and bring to a boil in a dutch oven.

Add peaches and simmer/boil for 40 minutes. Peaches will cook down and get juicier.

Remove 2 c. liquid from pot - I did this because the peaches seemed like there was way too much juice in them. It proved to be a very good choice to remove all this extra liquid. But, don't throw it out!

Puree remaining peaches/juice until smooth. I used a food processor.

Return to pan and add 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cloves, 1 c. white sugar and 1 c. brown sugar.

Let the peaches simmer a bit on a low temp - use the plate test to determine if it has cooked long enough. The plate test is where you take a cold or room temp plate. Spoon out a small amount of hot peach butter onto the middle of the plate. Hold plate at an angle and if you can see juice separate as shown here - you need to cook it longer. When it is ready - the juice will not separate.
Spoon into canning jars and process in a water bath canner for ten minutes. Mine made six half-pint jars of peach butter and I also canned the juice I'd removed earlier which made two half-pint jars. I'll use this in a future recipe!

So far, I've enjoyed this on biscuits and spread on my waffles with some toasted walnuts! Yummy!

19 comments:

Ginger said...

Those waffles do look yummy!

Julie said...

I never thought of peach butter. It looks and sounds delicious.

Holly C. said...

Oh my goodness, that looks soooo good!

Annie said...

I love this idea! You could probably do the cooking in a crock pot as well. Last summer I made Ginger Pear Butter that way... Ground pears (put them through a meat grinder), fresh ginger, and sugar cooked on low for about 3 hours. Stir occasionally. Absolutely delicious!

Sharon said...

Good morning Monica!

The Peach Butter recipe sounds delicious! It looks very tasty too! Thanks for sharing :)

Have wonderful day in the Lord!
~Sharon

Unknown said...

My neighbor gave me some peaches and I'm just eating them with honey drizzled on top for a snack. At this rate I've got two more days worth of snacks. I guess if I was given as much as you'd I'd make something with it, but most likely would make fruit leather.

Cheryl said...

My hubby would love some peach butter. That looks sooo tasty.
I have made apple butter before but never peach. Thanks for sharing how you made yours.

Anonymous said...

Monica,

The Peach Butter looks yummy! I love the jars! Where did you get those cute little jars? The lids are adorable.

Blessings,

Angela

Willys and Elizabeth (Lizzie) said...

Your peach butter looks so delicious!

I have a question... In one of the pictures you posted it looks like you have a smooth top stove. The big pot you have pictures looks like one I have that says not to use on a smooth top stove. Have you ever had a problem? I would love to use mine but I have always been so worried...

Thanks,
Elizabeth
zizziecards@gmail.com

Sarah said...

I love peach butter. There's a Jam and Jelly Kitchen nearby (www.kitchenkettle.com) that makes it, but I haven't tried making it at home yet. If you ever get to Lancaster County, PA you might enjoy checking it out. They also make a Pumpkin Butter that is soo good.

All these peach recipes are making me eager for the peaches to come in season around here. Maybe I'll have to make some peach butter this year.

Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Thanks will definatly have to try this. Ive never made anything like butter or jelly or jams... and I have alot lot of peaches I need to start doing stuff with.

How ripe do they need to be to make the butter?

What steps did you take to freeze the peaches?

Becky said...

I was going to mention the crock-pot as well. I've made both peach and apple butter in it this year and have had very good luck and it makes it a very mommy friendly recipe. I can work on it through the day as my schedule allows and then do the heat canning after bedtime- so much easier than jams.

Wendi said...

I imagine that your home smells wonderful!

Julie Willis said...

Looks so good. I've got some peaches. maybe well give this a try.

We just did plum jam today. Sooooo good!

Anonymous said...

I copied this recipe down. I have visited your blog before and this the first time I have left a comment.
You are very creative :)

Elise said...

Wow, that does look yum and I never would have thought of it. I did want to make peach preserves, though...
Elise

Monica Wilkinson said...

Angela,
Aren't they cute?! My aunt gave them to me and she is the QUEEN of clearance racks - I'm guessing she found them there. She also gave me some Christmas ones a couple of years ago! They were made by Ball.

Elizabeth,
I do have a smooth top stove and my canner is so old that it does not have any such warning on it because smooth stoves were not a thought yet!

However, I have used it successfully and with no problems. I'm not really sure why they would say not to? I hate to tell you against what the label says - but I have never thought twice about it.

Grits Girl: Great question, I had some peaches that were still pretty firm and really riper (softer) is better - but you can use a few that aren't quite ripe because of the cooking part.

I've done the freezing different ways - but two of the best are:

peel, slice and remove pits: freeze on a cookie sheet first and then scoop into a ziploc or container. This makes it easy to pull out only what you need.

Or, peel, slice and remove pits and divide into about two cup portions and put in ziplocs or containers. I never add anything to the peaches just freeze them as is.

Enjoy!

Sarah said...

If you have the Ball Blue Book of Canning, there is a recipe for peach pie filling which is stored in the freezer. I'm hoping to try it this year as my attempt to can peach pie filling last year was not very successful.

Charree said...

My mouth is watering looking at those waffles.

Have a blessed weekend!
~Charree