The orchard and garden at our cabin up on Orcas Island has been bountiful this year so my daughter and I have been canning up a storm. With a little imagination and a plethora of peaches, plums, peppers and tomatoes we’ve preserved these fruits at their peak of ripeness to enjoy and share during the colder months. I relish in having these beautiful jars in my pantry to add fresh flavor and color to meals and cocktail platters or to give as gifts.
Canning feels almost magical to me, like I’m bottling sunshine. Our Frost Peach tree is always so prolific, she brings us branches full of complexly flavorful fruit each year. This year the peaches were much smaller than usual, but we weren’t alone. Speaking with other peach~growers on the island they all found smaller fruits on their trees as well. Was it less water? Less sun? Should I have thinned the fruit out more? We’ll never know for sure but whatever they lacked in size they more than made up for in flavor and beauty.
Each year we make a version of this piquant peach sauce, It’s terrific served with cheeses, on sandwiches {think turkey and cheddar… yum!}. It’s also divine on roasted pork or chicken. Feel free to play around with the proportions to suit your tastes.
Ingredients
yield: a little more than 1.25 litres or 5 – 1/4 cups
- 5 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and cut to desired size {my peaches were petite so I just halved and quarter them}
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- the zest and juice from one lime
Be careful when cutting the jalapeño, the volatile oils from the seeds are very strong and you do not want to get them in your eyes! Some people use gloves when cutting peppers.
I halve them and then remove the seeds under running water and put them down the drain.
Next, I cut them into matchsticks and chop them to desired size. Then {most important} I wash my hands with soap and water to make sure all of the oils are off my skin.
Here’s an easy way to cut onions and shallots with precision. After cutting the allium in half and removing the core I lie the cut side down on the board and then slice the onions to desired thickness
then, I cut it the other way and end up a perfect little pile of chopped, savory goodness with ease.
Next the chopped garlic, I also love using this handy device for preparing garlic.
Preparation
Add all of the ingredients except the lime juice and zest to a saucepan.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes add the lime zest and juice and cook and stir occasionaly for another 5 minutes.
And that’s it, your sauce is made! All you need to do now is decide what you want to do with your tasty concoction.
You can immediately enjoy it with a meal, refrigerate it, freeze it or can it according to jar manufacturers instructions. I like the European look of these WECK jars from Germany, these Italian Fido jars are also appealing to me.
After sterilizing the jars in boiling water for 20 minutes, I filled them with sauce {allowing 1/2 inch to 1 inch from the top} then put the rubber rings on the lids, and clipped the lids onto the jars with provided clamps.
Then I lowered the jars back into the boiling water of the canning pot where they bubbled away for 20 minutes until they were tightly sealed.
After allowing them to cool, I removed the clamps and tested the seal to make sure they were secure. If the seal doesn’t work you can just store the jars to the refrigerator {1-2 weeks} or freezer {a year} to keep the sauce flavorful.
To watch a video of the piquant peach sauce preparation click on my Instagram feed over there ->->->
I hope you’re enjoying these final days of summer!
