This is for mj-indy who wanted the Peach Butter recipe. This is so
you can home can it in jars.
Peach Butter
Peaches (It takes about 5 good sized peaches to make one quart of
prepared peaches. And each quart of prepared peaches cooks down to
about 1 pint of peach butter.
So that means you'll need about 5 large peaches per pint of peach
butter that you want to make! For one batch in a 5 to 6 quart
crockpot you'll need about 30 medium to large peaches! The rest of
the measurements assume you're making one full batch.
2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
4 cups sugar (or other sweetener) The sweetener can be sugar,
splenda, fruit juice (peach juice or white grape juice work well) or
none at all. Usually a fruit butter, like peach butter is a fairly
sweet concoction, so taste of the peaches to see if you might want
to add some sweetening. I usually add about 2 cups of sugar and 2
cups of Splenda, so it's sweet, but not loaded with sugar.
Wash the peaches in plain cold or lukewarm water. Peel the peaches
using this method if you prefer, just dip the fruit in boiling water
for 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from the water using a slotted spoon
and put into a large bowl or pot of cold water and ice for about 2
minutes. The skins will easily slide off. Cut out any brown spots
and mushy areas. Cut the peaches in half, or quarters or slices, as
you prefer! Remove pits!
If you want REALLY smooth peach butter, run the cut up peaches
through your food processor or blender until they are pureed!
I use my crockpot to cook the peach butter, but, you can do it on
the stove top if you perfer. Fill the crock pot to within an inch of
full with the peaches. My crockpot holds about 5.5 quarts. As I said
you can do this using a regular large pot on very low heat on the
stove, but the crockpot works much better, because its heat is very
low. I've never had a batch burn in the crockpot.
To the crockpot full of cut up peaches, add the:
2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
4 cups sugar (or other sweetener)(see other sweetner options above)
Set the crock pot on low or medium heat.
Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter
as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels. You
don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape
so it can reduce in volume and thicken.
Leave it to cook for 6 - 12 hours. How long depends on the size and
power of your crockpot, and how thick you like it, If you want to
stir it occasionally, that's fine but not necessary. I let mine go
overnight. It will reduce in volume by about half overnight.
Prepare your jars. If the peach butter is not as smooth as you'd
like, just use a hand-held drink blender. It does a great job for
finishing it up. You can also put it into a regular blender, but if
you are going to do that, you might want to blend the peach sauce
before you put it in the crock pot (it will be much thicker
afterwards and won't move in a regular blender).
Fill them to within ?-inch of the top, wipe any spilled peach butter
of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Put them
in the canner and keep them cover with at least 1 inch of water and
boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for
5 minutes and quart jars for 10 min.
Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or
bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can
then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can
check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked
down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops
up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you
put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Or
you can reheat the contents of the jar, pour into a new, clean
sterilized jar, use a new lid and ring and cook the full time in the
canner and it will usually seal and be ok to use.
Notes: Too thick? if the peach butter cooks down too much or is too
thick for your liking, just add a little bit of peach juice and
blend it in.
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