Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Pickled Some Peaches
 Login/Join
 
Factor
posted
I put these here as this doesn't really go with cooking on a "campfire".

Hey folks I pickled some "red" or "Cherokee" or "Indian" peaches yesterday. I got five quarts. Big Grin They are an heirloom variety that you don't find in the stores nor at normal orchards...but the older folks down the road called me as they have two trees, and told me to come and get some as they were tuckered out with the ones they already pickled.

I also got some Damson plums and made jam....OK so maybe I should call it "syrup" as it didn't set right...probably didn't cook it long enough but it was my first try and the kids like pancakes...

Both fruit varieties came over with Europeans, and were well established by the time of the F&I... heck Damsons go back to the Roman occupation of Britain... for any Roman or Norse or Medieval reenactors out there.

Red peaches and Damson plums are apparently easy to cultivate too...so IF you have the room in your yard, I'd recommend them.

Pickled Peaches
1 grocery bag of red peaches (the new fangled "green" washable type, not the larger brown paper style)
2 cups water
4 cups cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
8 cinnamon sticks (one per canning jar)
32 cloves
8 wide mouth, quart, canning jars with fresh lids

Cut red peaches into halves. You will end up with a half with a peach pit, and one without... go ahead and leave the pit in those halves that have them. Use a carrot peeler and remove the outer skins. Place four cloves and one cinamon stick in each jar, then carefully fill with the peach halves.

When filled, make the pickling syrup by heating the water and the vinegar to boiling, then add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Then ladel the syrup into the quart jars until the liquid is less than 1/2" from the rim. Apply a fresh lid, and screw down the locking ring on each jar. Can in boiling water that is at least 1" over the top of the jars for ten minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Note this is a bit more vinegary than a standard peach pickling recipe as red peaches tend to be less acidic...so you need more acid for canning.

I'm not bold enough to try this in a pickling crock as they might have done 200 years ago...

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
Sounds yummy!!!!


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2013 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
My mother used to make pickled peaches and I loved them. I haven't ate one for about 40 years. My wife pickled some crab apples yesterday and is doing more today and it makes the house smell real good!

We picked a bunch of elderberries and made jelly that was too thin so now we have a lot of elderberry syrup. That's all right because we eat more sourdough hotcakes than biscuits. It was so good that we picked some more and made more syrup.

I wonder if Starks sell red peach trees.
 
Posts: 507 | Registered: 14 August 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
IF you can find a store that sells red peaches, buy a bunch pronto. They effectively disappeared from the markets of America right after WWII, as other varieties are much easier to ship cross country. They aren't super sweet, but they have a very good "peach" flavor, which is why they survived in odd gardens and such, and they are reportedly easy to cultivate from the pits, instead of grafting, which is why they caught on in previous centuries in North America.

I plan to cultivate Damson and Red Peach trees in the spring, and hopefully will find a home for them. The owners tell me it takes several years for either to bear fruit.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
posted Hide Post
Never had pickled peaches but your recipe has me wanting to try making some.


Experience is the best teacher, hunger good sauce.
Osborne Russell Journal of a Trapper
 
Posts: 212 | Location: SW Montana | Registered: 17 December 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 


2014 Historical Enterprises, LLC