Category:
Pickles and Preserves

Peach and Almond Preserve

Ingredients:

peaches
sugar
almonds
bitter almonds
pectin or a quince
citric acid

Ten or twelve liters of peaches is a manageable quantity to take on. That will be a couple of six-quart baskets.
Lower fruit one at a time into fiercely boiling water for six or seven seconds, or however long it takes for the skins to loosen. This will depend on the varietal, and state of ripeness.
Peel, stone and chop the fruit roughly, or to your taste. Most jam recipes recommend grinding, which will produce a more coherent product, but down here we like some texture to remain.
Bake half a liter or so of fine almonds in a moderate oven for a few minutes, or until they just begin to colour inside. Quickly rub off their skins in a kitchen towel and let them cool.
Crush a dozen bitter almonds.
Put all the peaches and about three quarters of their weight of cane sugar into a large cauldron. Pare the quince, and grate the flesh. Add as much of the crushed flesh of the quince as you can rub through a coarse sieve to the peaches.
Bring gently to a boil, stirring, more or less continually. You may need to add a little water as a starter. Continue to boil (and stir) until the jam is thick. Be warned; this can take some time, so bring a book or a friend to the stove.
Add a teaspoon of citric acid.
Add the almonds, very roughly crushed, and the bitter almonds, crushed a bit more thouroughly. Cook ten minutes more. Add pectin at this point, if you are using it. Allow to cool just enough to make handling safe before you ladle it into storage jars.

Notes:

Topping with paraffin is an old standby we decry; who wants to eat that stuff? Usually, out of laziness, we just freeze all the jars. This won't allow the jam to 'age,' but it will still be good.

Recipe Index

More Preserves:

Pear and Ginger Preserve |