Pickled Peaches
When I was a kid, pickled peaches were always present for holiday meals. I’m guessing that Grandmother pickled them at one point. I remember them being whole peaches on the pit. You would have to have a knife to politely trim peach flesh off the pit. Or you could just run a fork up the side of the seed and eat it like a popsicle (but never at the dinner table).
At some point, we started buying peaches from the store. They were available in cans or jars, and called “spiced”. They weren’t the same.
A few years back I decided to try pickling my own peaches from fresh. I started out looking for “cling” peaches, but I couldn’t find any. Everyone only grew “freestone”. The problem with pickling or canning freestone peaches is that the “stone” would get loose and float around separate from the peach flesh. It wasn’t appetizing. It had not yet occurred to me that I could pickle peach halves.
The answer came from a hint I heard somewhere along the way. It was, why pickle fresh peaches? Why not just pickle ones that were already canned?
So now, that’s what we do. I will pickle several jars of peach halves, starting with the ones that come in the can at your grocery store. I go for the highest quality peach halves I can find, always in heavy syrup.
Be sure to do this a couple of weeks before the meal where you want to serve them. They need time to soak up all the spicy goodness.
Be sure to get peach halves. I made the mistake of picking up sliced peaches by accident. They tasted great, but it was a constant battle to get all the spices off of each little piece. Chomping down on a whole clove would definitely ruin your palate for the rest of your meal.
Time: 1 hour + 1 – 2 weeks
Special equipment: canning jars and lids or other storage container
Yield: 1 quart
Ingredients:
2 lg cans 9each halves in heavy syrup
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp whole cloves
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 whole cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
¼ cup fresh cranberries (optional)
Instructions:
Drain the peaches, reserving all the syrup.
Put syrup in a medium size sauce pan with other 5 ingredients (not cranberries) and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 5 minutes.
Place the peach halves and cranberries (if using them) in a quart canning jar, fitting them in tightly. Add the spices from the syrup along with the peaches so they are throughout the jar. Use a long handle spoon to gently pack everything in.
Pour syrup liquid over peaches in the jar. Tap the side of the jar to release any bubbles. Run a chopstick down the inside of the jar to release any bubbles. Refill any space at the top.
Put a lid on the jar and store it in the refrigerator. This is not shelf stable. The peaches will be ready to eat in a week, but better in two.