SWEET PRESERVATION: Boozy Peach Sauce

Peaches have always been one of my favorite fruits. When you bite into a fresh picked summer peach and the juice runs over your tongue, well I find it to be one of the most satisfying natural sweets under the sun.

The Sweet Preservation website is Washington State Fruit Commission’s blog dedicated to the art of preserving fruit, and really is chock full of useful information. As an official 'Canbassador' for the Commission, I was awarded a box of stone fruit for preserving.  A number of peaches were in the mix, just as I had hoped.

My mother makes a wonderfully chunky Peach Jam in the traditional fashion (meaning heavy on the sugar). As the oldest of five, when I was young, this jam was so coveted that I would try to squirrel a jar or two away, hiding it in the back of the refrigerator so I wouldn’t have to share. I must admit those selfish tendencies still exist, and once you taste this Boozy Peach Sauce you might just be hiding a jar or two so you won’t have to share either.

Even if you haven’t done much jam, jelly or sauce making this recipe is easy; sweet summer fruit simmered in sugar and booze until they melt into a sauce. If you haven’t preserved fruit before, or would simply like to review safe canning practices visit Sweet Preservations’ link, Preservation 101.

You can swap the peaches for other stone fruits – think apricots, nectarines, yes, even plums. Use bourbon or rum in place of the brandy, depending on your palette and what is in the cabinet. You can peel the peaches if you like, but if they are well washed, there is really no need, just split, pit and cube them. If you use the hot water bath, this sauce may be kept on the shelf for up to a year. Otherwise, store it in the fridge for a month more or less.

Just a splash of this lusciously sweet treat turns ordinary vanilla ice cream into a heavenly dessert. Delicious warmed and drizzled over traditional pound cake, as a sweetener for your smoothies, or a glaze for your pork roasts, chicken, or duck: like many home preserves the possibilities are endless.

Boozy Peach Sauce also makes a wonderful holiday gift, but beware, one taste will have your family and friends begging for more.





I chose Christian Brothers Brandy for my Boozy Peach Sauce, mostly because it brought back
childhood memories of visiting the now shuttered Christian Brothers Winery in New York State.




BOOZY PEACH SAUCE


INGREDIENTS

6 cups chopped pitted Peaches

2 tablespoons Lemon Juice

2 cups lightly packed Brown Sugar

1 cup Raw Sugar

3/4 cup Brandy

1 tsp grated Lemon Zest

DIRECTIONS

Prepare your boiling water canner. Sterilize jars, set lids in simmering water until ready for use. Set bands aside. 

When chopping your peaches, toss with Lemon Juice to keep from browning.

Combine Peaches, Sugars, Booze and Lemon Zest in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes.




Boozy peaches cooking on the stovetop.
Lids and Hot Water Bath simmering away in the background.


Ladle hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and re-measure headspace. If needed, add more sauce to meet recommended headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.

Process filled jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal.

Store in dark cool pantry for a year. Makes 3 - 4 pints.

HONEY SPICE POUND CAKE WITH CLEMENTINES AND PLUMS

I believe that if you love to preserve or can foods then you love to cook and enjoy fine dining, not just eating.  For me, half the fun of putting by small batch preserves is also discovering ways to incorporate those rainbows of color and flavor into your baking, your daily meals, creating delectable dishes to share with those you love.

It is from that desire that I used a jar of my Clementines in Honey-Spice Syrup to create a Honey Spice Pound Cake.  The cake recipe is similar to a pound cake, and if you like the idea but have no preserved clementines you could use any other type of fruit instead, like blueberries, or pineapple or bing cherries.

 

Go ahead get creative, after all that is what cooking is all about.

HONEY SPICE POUND CAKE 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 Cups Raw Sugar

1/2 Cup unsalted Butter, softened

1/2 Cup low-fat fat Cream Cheese, softened

3 large Eggs (room temperature)

1 Tbs zest of Lemon

Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 Tablespoons)

2 teaspoon Vanilla

3 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 cup preserved Clementine slices including ginger bits

1 cup diced dried Plums

4 teaspoon Honey Spice Syrup

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1-6 oz carton Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt

1/2 Cup sifted Confectionary Sugar

Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Gather all ingredients.  Drain pint jar of Clementines in Honey Spice Syrup reserving liquid.

Beat the sugar, butter and cream cheese at medium speed with a mixer until well blended. 

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.

In a smaller bowl measure the 3 cups of flour.  Remove 2 Tbs and sprinkle over the fruit, gently stirring and tossing to coat.

To the remaining flour add the baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir to combine.  Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the yogurt, be careful not to over-mix.  Gently, fold in the Clementine slices and plum pieces.

Pour the batter into a 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan coated with cooking spray.  Sharply tap the pan once on the counter to remove air bubbles.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes more or less depending on your oven, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack.  Remove cake from the pan.  Allow to cool completely.

Combine the powdered sugar and honey-spice syrup in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.  Drizzle over the cake.