Eunice Power - Outside Catering Company, Waterford, Ireland.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Spiced Peaches

Makes 2 x 500ml pots
300ml white wine vinegar
300g golden caster sugar
2 tsp sea salt
7cm cinnamon stick
12 cloves
4 bay leaves
approx 8 (900g) under-ripe peaches

  1. Heat two half-litre le Parfait jars (or whatever jars you are using) for 5 minutes in a medium hot oven at 190 C (170 C fan oven) gas mark 5.
  2. Pour the vinegar into a medium-size saucepan, add 300ml of water, the sugar, salt, spices and bay leaves.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  In the meantime, halve the peaches and slice each half into 4 segments.
  3. Add the peach slices to the liquor, bring back to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until they are translucent and just soft.  Ladle the peaches and aromatics into the hot jars, pressing them down with the back of a spoon, then pour over enough liquor to cover them, and seal.  Leave to cool completely.
  4. The peaches can either be eaten straightaway or matured for several months.  Once opened, store in the fridge for up to two weeks, making sure that the fruit is completely submerged beneath the liquor.