It’s peach season here in New England! And I’m so excited!!!
There really is something about a freshly picked peach during the summer time. So juicy and sweet with an underlying sour note. A far cry from the ones that come at the end of spring from miles away, which are much more tart and don’t have that much sweetness or juiciness.
I feel like that’s why, besides berries, I found SO many different preserve receipts for peaches. It really is a short season for the best peach flavor.
So this receipt is very straight forward. As the title describes, it is peaches that are steeped in brandy with sugar. What could be bad about that!
Brandied Peaches
1 Peck Peaches
Half their weight in Sugar
1 Quart high proof Alcohol or Brandy
“Remove skins from peaches, and put alternative layers of peaches and sugar in a stone jar; then add alcohol. Cover closely, having a heavy piece of cloth under cover of jar.”
Farmer, Fannie The Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1896) pg. 485
Now this receipt is certainly meant to preserve ALOT of peaches in brandy. When I did the math I figured out that a peck of peaches is equal roughly to 8 dry quarts, and each quart is 4 cups. So this recipe, as is, calls for 32 cups of peaches. I found that 2 to 3 peaches makes one cup of peaches. So, that would involve me acquiring almost 100 peaches. Nope!
So I ended up getting 8 instead… I mean 7! I ate one of them earlier.
I then proceeded to take the skins off the peaches. I found that there are several ways to do this. From boiling the peaches in hot water for 20 seconds before plunging them in ice water to stop the cooking process (and draws the skin away from the flesh) to using a vegetable peeler. I, honestly, didn’t feel like boiling water and I hate using a peeler. So I decided just to use a knife to cut the skin away. You might get more of the flesh than the other methods, but honestly it is so much easier to do.
The receipt does say to peel the peaches but it says nothing about the pit. I could see how these could be put whole into a jar/storage vessel and covered with sugar and brandy. But, my particular thought, is that to have them all set to use once they come out of the brandy would be much better. So I cut the peach flesh away from the pit and put it aside.
Once I had all the peaches cut up I started the layering process. I don’t have a stoneware jar available, so I decided to use a canning jar instead.
I will admit that I forgot to weigh the peaches before adding the sugar, so in essence I don’t have the exact amount of sugar I used. I did put 2 cups of sugar in the bowl at the beginning and added sugar to each layer…
… till all the peaches were covered. At the end I would say there was about 1/2 a cup left over in the bowl, so I used roughly a cup and a half of sugar (minus the little bit I spilled on the table).
Now was time to add the brandy!
When I went to acquire a bottle of brandy I asked one of the workers what type would be best for preserving fruit. He did not suggest a particular brand but he did say that it is best not to use a brandy that is already flavored with fruit or flower essences. And the fact that we are adding fruit and sugar to the brandy changes the flavor so the high end brandy is not necessary in preservation. So I took his advice with my choice of brandy, finding one that was not too expensive and was not flavored, but really it is up to you what kind you’d like to use.
Seeing as I was completely off the receipt in the term of measurements, I decided just to add as much brandy as would fill the jar almost to the top. I did give the brandy time to settle as it went through the sugar.
Once the jar was filled, I sealed it and put it away in a dark, cool place. I am going to leave it there for a few months, checking on it periodically to make sure it is alright.
So the taste test will have to wait! But I’m hoping to open them up and give them a try around Christmas time!
So Stay Tuned!