Friday, July 7, 2017

Jack Sparrow's Peach Preserves #ChileWeek

Summer heat brings out the juiciest peaches and the hottest peppers. The combination is fantastic - sweet and succulent with a present, but subtle heat in the background.

Jack Sparrow's Peach Preserves

I love reading through canning books. They're always a perfect resource for inspiration, whether it be for jam and jelly or tomato sauce and chutney. My dad gave me a copy of Rebecca Lindamood's Not Your Mama's Canning Book for Christmas and I immediately dove in, trying to plan what I'd be jarring up this year while knowing I have to wait for the actual produce to appear in the market. Let me tell you, there are more "to make" post it notes in that book than I have time or space to make, so I'll be paring it down as I see what the farms and gardens give us.

That said, I think when it comes to canning, I just can't wait my turn. Peaches from Niagara aren't quite ready yet, and the incessant rain has slowed down both the tomato and the pepper harvest (boo!). I couldn't help but get the canner going to make this preserve to take it to my dad's trailer this weekend though. After all, he both gifted me the book and the Scotch Bonnets I used in place of the habaneros! Luckily, I also had delicious, perfectly ripe peaches in the form of Dole's Fruit Pouches. The peach slices I used were packed in water, and pureed wonderfully (I could try with the rock-hard imports, but they'd still have no flavour. Ripe is best!). A glug of rum, some lime juice and a touch of pectin later and I had beautiful, sunny-looking jars jarred up. Now when we break into them mid-winter we'll still have Summer living on our tongues!

As to what to do with it (it's a little zippy for a bona fide Toast Topper, but in my opinion I wouldn't say no to this on a cream cheese bagel!), this preserve would also makes a fantastic garnish to a burger with old Cheddar, Swiss or even Gouda. The original recipe's creator, Rebecca Lindamood, uses it to make a to-die-for sauce for chicken, which would totally work for tofu or shrimp too. I’d also love to use it to top turkey meatloaf before baking as a glaze! 


Jack Sparrow's Peach Preserves
Adapted from Rebecca Lindamood's book "Not Your Mama's Canning Book"
Makes 5 ½ cups, 88 (1 tbsp) servings
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp Pomona's Universal Pectin
918g pitted, peeled peaches
2 Scotch Bonnet peppers, stem and seeds removed, minced
2 tbsp golden rum
¼ cup lime juice
4 tsp calcium water (from the Pomona’s packet)
  1. Whisk the granulated sugar and pectin together in a bowl until the pectin is evenly distributed. Set aside.
  2. Place the peaches and habaneros in a small blender and puree. Transfer to a pot.
  3. Add the rum, lime juice and calcium water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
  4. Add the sugar and pectin mixture all at once and stir very vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes while the mixture comes back to the boil.
  5. Immediately remove from the heat.
  6. Waterbath process for 5 minutes.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 22.8
Total Fat: 0.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.1 mg
Total Carbs: 5.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.2 g
Protein: 0.1 g

 *Disclaimer, I have not been compensated by Dole for mentioning them in this article. I also do not in any way own or share an affiliation with Disney, I just liked the catchy name.

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