Peach Honey Butter

Considering it is stone-fruit season (peaches, plums, etc), I thought it fitting to begin my Christmas canning now instead of waiting until the last minute in December when everything gets expensive. I grabbed about four pounds of peaches, some honey, sugar, and spices, and about an hour and a half later ended up with this:


Peach Honey Butter

It was a new recipe I found online somewhere--tweaked of course, because I never like to use exactly the same amount of sugar that's recommended, and I skipped a step or two because I'm just plain lazy sometimes.

Ingredients:

4 lbs ripe peaches

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup honey

1 cinnamon stick

A few shakes of ground cloves

3 tbs low-sugar pectin (optional--helps it gel up)

8 half pint (8 oz) canning jars

Ignore the "whole cloves" in the photo. I decided to use ground cloves after I realized I was using a blender instead of a seive.

The original recipe says to peel, pit, and quarter the peaches. Since I had a toddler climbing my legs and shouting for my attention (yeah, I know--next time save the canning for naptime), I saved some time and energy by not peeling the peaches. Two simple slices, a quick twist, and the pit came right out and the peach went in the pot. The BIG pot, by the way--I ended up not using all of my peaches because I didn't want to overfill the pot.

After the pot was full I added the 1/4 cup (approximately) of water and cinnamon stick and set it on medium-high until it boiled, then put the lid on and lowered the heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes (until the peaches were nice and mushy).

Yum!

Let me tell you, it smelled intoxicating. Who doesn't like the aroma of cinnamon and peaches? Next it went into the blender in smallish batches (making sure to get some of the juices in each batch to make it smoother). And don't forget about that cinnamon stick that's been marinating--I'm pretty sure you don't want that to end up in your blender. I just put it aside for some other project I'm bound to attempt in the next week or so.

Also, now is a good time to start boiling those jars if you're planning on preserving your concoction! I usually put them all in a huge pot and let it boil for about ten minutes, then just turn off the heat until ready to use.

Voila! Return the butter to the pot and add your sugar, honey, and cloves, and bring it back to a boil, stirring well to allow the sugar to dissolve. The recipe said to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until the mixture mounds on a spoon, but mine didn't get super thick which is why I added 3 tbs of pectin (stir it REALLY well to avoid lumps!). You also need to really watch it because I left it for two minutes to put Emery down for a nap, and when I got back it was a bit frothy on top.

After a little while you'll notice it starts to get a big thicker, and now would be a good time for a taste-test. Next time I'm using a little big less sugar. Put your jars on the counter--carefully--and fill them up until you've got about a quarter inch headspace. Wipe the rims clean and put the lids on, making sure to secure them with the bands! One time I was canning I forgot the band on one of the jars and it made a mess in the pot. Not fun.

I usually process my jars in a hot water bath (boiling water) for 10 minutes, then put them back on the counter and leave them undisturbed for about 24 hours. They usually starting sealing and making that satisfactory popping sound within ten minutes of leaving the hot water. You know they're sealed properly when you press down on the middle of the lid and there's no give and it doesn't pop up and down. If any of your jars don't seal, I've heard you can try processing them again, but I usually just pop them in the fridge and use them within two weeks. No complaints in this house! ;-)