It wouldn’t be a “Preserve” month if I didn’t include one of Martha Washington’s receipts from her “Booke of Sweetmeats”.
There are SO MANY different receipts! Which one to choose?
I finally narrowed down my choice for two reasons. The first being that peaches were in season and available at most farm stands in my area. The second being when I read this I thought it would be something resembling a fruit leather, which I LOVE!
But, low and behold, I was in for quite a surprise…
To Make Paste of Peaches
“Take peaches & boyle them tender, as you did your apricots, & strayne them. Then take as much sugar as they weigh & boyle it to candy height. Mix ym together and make it up into a paste as you doe yr other fruit. soe dry them and use it at your pleasure.”
Washington, Martha Booke of Sweetmeats (1749) #112
I have to admit, again, I’m not the biggest peach fan 10 out of the 12 months of the year. But, once July and August hits, they are some of my favorite fruits to eat. And these peaches were wonderfully juicy and sweet, gotten at a roadside farm stand the next town over!
As I figured out in my previous post, “Brandied Peaches“, there are several ways to peel a peach. But, barring the desire to blanch them or use a peeler, I found the easiest way is to just use a sharp knife and try to keep as close to the skin as possible. It helps to cut the bottom away, stand the peach up and run the knife down the sides like you would a pineapple. YouTube has some great videos on that particular subject if you don’t know how to peel a pineapple.
I then cut around the pit like you would a papaya (so many fruit references!!!) and then cube up the slices so that they are all similar in size.
There! All ready for the pot!
Once I got the peaches in the pot I put it on a medium heat to start stewing down.
Just a warning, this not a “Set it and Forget it” situation. I pretty much stood by the stove, stirring frequently, and even added a little bit of water to keep the peaches from sticking to the bottom. But, at a good bubble, it stewed down in 15-20 minutes, so I wasn’t stuck in one place for too long.
Once stewed I put it in the strainer and started to push the peaches through it.
Some peach pieces might still be whole, some completely cooked down. Just mash up the pieces that are still together and they should fall apart pretty quickly.
So, once I strained the peaches (and added some pulp back because I was still of the mindset that this was a fruit leather for some reason) I set the bowl aside to let it cool.
Now, as the receipt states “…take as much sugar as they weigh and boyle it to candy height…”
So I weight the strained peaches (minus the bowl’s weight) and came to 1 lb of strained peaches. So I weighed out 1 lb of granulated sugar (2 cups) and measured 2 cups of water (since I learned that candy height is best achieved with a 1:1 ratio during the “Orring Pills” receipt).
I then added the water and sugar into a pan and, using my handy dandy candy thermometer, I boiled it to “candy height”, or 230 degrees F.
There has been much debate amongst historical foodies about what exactly “candy height” is, but there seems to general consensus that it is between 220 to 240 (mainly the “soft ball” or “chewy caramel candy” stage).
Once the sugar/water mixture was at the correct temperature, I added it to the strained peach mixture and stirred it in.
The texture changed completely and it’s about now that I regretted putting some pulp back into the mixture.
Now I was REALLY regretting it.
The candied peach substance was nothing like a fruit leather. It was at this moment that I realized that this would not dry out completely in a 175 temp oven, though I tried it for a few hours and left it in there over night, hoping I was wrong.
The good news is I was right!
The bad news is… I was right.
The peach paste I pulled out the oven the next morning was still sticky and wet. I now knew this would not be a 24-hour-receipt.
So, I employed the big guns! I got a small fan and had it blow over the paste, on a low setting, for several days, in the hopes that it would help it dry faster.
Let’s just say, around Day 5, I had to abandon the fan since I was going away to visit family for the weekend. So I covered the tray up with a tea towel and set it aside so that it would dry till I got back from my trip.
DAY 8!!!
Yay!!! It was DRY!!!
…on one side…
UGH!!! But, by shear stubbornness and not wanting to give in, I decided to peel and flip the peach paste onto the tray and allow it to dry on the other side.
At least I was smart enough to put a silicone mat under the paste when I poured it, allowing for easy release from the tray to flip it over. But, as I was moving it, I realized how brittle the paste actually is. So, very carefully, I pulled the paste away from the mat and flipped it onto the tray…
Success!!!
Some cracks here and there, but at least it remained whole! Now, to allow it to dry on the other side…
DAY 12!!!
All dry! It was brittle, but not so much that if you touched it it would break. So I broke it into sizable pieces, as you see above, and stored it in a container with the lid cracked open to make sure any moisture still in it doesn’t spoil it.
But, first, the TASTE TEST!
Recognizing that this was much more like candy than the fruit leather I first assumed it would be I took a small bite. The sugar was certainly the star player at the beginning, with only a subtle hint of peach. I honestly was a bit sad because all that beautiful peach flavor was masked. But then, 30 seconds later, the peaches decided they weren’t going to be hidden and came full force on my taste buds. This brought a smile to my face. I took a bigger bite and realized how balanced it was. And how, in the middle of winter, this could be a bright reminder of the peaches of summer.
I will say that this is certainly something to be eaten in small quantities, as the sugar is very strong. But what a wonderfully different way to enjoy peaches all year round!
Even if it isn’t exactly peach leather…