My Last Post About Peaches (this year) I Swear!

I finished canning the last of my peaches. There are 3 or 4 still ripening on the tree, but I think we'll just eat those. :)

I've had a lot of fun with my peaches this year. I wasn't quite ready to quit. It's been really fun trying a bunch of new things.

My favorite peach concoction this year was the Pickled Peaches, but coming in a very close second is this Peach Rosemary Lemonade Concentrate. OH. MY. It is sooooo good. I canned 14 quarts of it. It'll be perfect to whip up quick for a party. I already have big plans so serve it at Baby #5's baby blessing dinner. It pretty much tastes like summer in a glass.






Peach Rosemary Lemonade Concentrate

*Makes 6-8 pints or 3 quarts of canned concentrate

Ingredients

6 cups peaches, frozen then thawed or fresh
4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 cups sugar
6 stems rosemary

Directions
In a food processor, blender or bullet puree peaches.  
Transfer peach puree to a stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat. DO NOT BOIL. Add lemon juice, sugar, and  rosemary and stir to combine. 
Using a thermometer heat to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring occasionally. Because this recipe has sugar it will get to temperature rather quickly so keep your eye on the thermometer. Remove from heat. Remove rosemary before filling jars.
Ladle mixture into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim, add hot lids and tighten rings just finger tight. Process in water bath canner at a boil for 15 minutes.
To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water, tonic water or ginger ale. Adjust concentrate to suit your taste.

My sister-in-law Esther gave me some vanilla beans, so I made a few batches of Vanilla Peach Butter. It turned out good. It's really yummy on pancakes. I don't like it as much as I like the Apple Butter though. I think prefer making fruit butter, as opposed to fruit jam, because there is a lot less sugar in the butter, and you don't have to buy any pectin.

Crockpot Vanilla Peach Butter

Ingredients
8 Peaches
2 Vanilla Beans
1/4 Cup Sugar

Instructions
1. Peel peaches, remove pit and cut into chunks or slices and place in crock-pot.
2. Cut each vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrap out the vanilla bean seeds with a spoon and put seeds and the pods into the crock-pot with the peaches.
3. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
4. Cover and cook on low 4 hours.
5. Remove the vanilla bean pods.
6. Pour cooked peaches into the jar of a blender and cover.
7. Carefully (the mixtures will be hot!) blend the peaches until smooth.
8. Pour pureed peaches back into crock-pot and cover, but prop up the lid of the crock-pot with a chopstick or other heat proof utensil to allow moisture to escape.
9. Continue cooking on low for 1-2 hours, stirring every now and then to prevent peach butter from burning.
10. Pour into jars or containers and refrigerate for up to 2 months, freeze for up to 6 months or process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.


So huzzah for peaches. We have really enjoyed them (if you hadn't noticed). So much so, that I've even convinced Aaron (and it wasn't very hard) that we want to plant a second peach tree next year. Maybe one that ripens a little earlier. That way we can enjoy the peach love all summer and fall long. I can can them to my little heart's content, and then when I'm sick of it, we can always give the rest away, or feed them to the chickens, or let Lincoln try his hand at setting up a fruit stand and selling them to the neighbors at an exorbitant rate. ;) (Remember when he wanted to sell gallon bags of spinach to the neighbors for $10 a bag? Ya, that's what I'm referring to.)