Spiced Peaches

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar

3 cups malt vinegar

Peel and juice from 1 lemon

6 cloves

6 allspice berries

1 cinnamon stick

4 lbs. firm peaches, peeled, halved and pitted


Makes 16 servings.


Preparation:

  • In a large nonreactive pan, combine sugar and vinegar over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves.
  • Tie lemon peel, cloves and allspice into a square of cheesecloth and put into pan.
  • Add peaches and simmer until just tender (about 15 to 20 minutes). 
  • Remove peaches carefully with a slotted spoon and arrange in warmed sterilized jars. 
  • Boil sugar until thickened (about 10 minutes) and pour over peaches. 
  • Add lemon rind, cloves and cinnamon stick to jar for decoration. When cool, seal jars. Store up to 2 months. 
  • Serve plain or topped with a raspberry sauce.

Real Cooking
Did You Know?
The Persians brought the peach from China and passed it on to the Romans. The peach was brought to America by Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century and eventually made it to England and France in the seventeenth century, where it was a prized albeit rare treat.

A horticultist by the name of George Minifie supposedly brought the first peaches from England to the USA in the early seventeenth century, planting them at his Estate of Buckland in Virginia.

Various American Indian tribes are credited with spreading the peach tree across the United States, taking seeds along with them and planting as they roved the country.

Although Thomas Jefferson had peach trees at Monticello, United States farmers did not begin commercial production until the nineteenth century in Maryland, Delaware, Georgia and finally Virginia. California grows 65% of peaches grown for commercial production in the United States,[2] but the northern states, Colorado, Michigan, and Washington also grow a significant amount. Italy, China, India and Greece are major producers of peaches outside of the United States.