<p>Vanilla flavored peach butter sounds amazing, can I have that recipe? </p>
<p>I spoke to my mother in law who said golden delicious apples were the best for what I want to do. She also told me to just core it, slice 'em and throw them in the crockpot with a little apple juice, no need to skin. I have a strainer/grinder attachment to my kitchen aid so I’ll feed it through there and then decide if I need a little lemon juice or brown sugar.</p>
<p>I looked through my books, kathiep, and couldn’t find it. IIRC, it was something I made up. I haven’t made it in a long time. If you can find a recipe for a peach bbq-type sauce, try adding some liquid smoke (don’t overdo it) and some bourbon. It probably had brown sugar and cumin, some kind of hot pepper (probably either red flakes or chipotle).</p>
<p>Something like this:</p>
<p>[Peach</a> Barbecue Sauce Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/PEACH-BARBECUE-SAUCE-238919]Peach”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/PEACH-BARBECUE-SAUCE-238919)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be nervous about botulism if you have enough acid or sugar in what you can. (I’ve never canned just plain vegetables, though.) I always used the waterbath method just to be safe, even though it supposedly is unnecessary if you sterilize the jars and fill them with hot stuff.</p>
<p>I like a variety of apples for my applesauce, but maybe that’s because I do it when I make apple pies. One tool that really helps me when I make applesauce is my apple, peeler, corer, slicer - [Apple</a> Peeler/Corer | Williams-Sonoma](<a href=“http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/820373/]Apple”>http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/820373/) No need to deal with a food mill afterwards. </p>
<p>Here’s the recipe for the Vanilla peach butter: [Madagascar</a> Peach Butter | One Green Tomato](<a href=“http://onegreentomato.net/2011/08/31/madagascar-peach-butter/]Madagascar”>http://onegreentomato.net/2011/08/31/madagascar-peach-butter/) It’s taking a heck of a long time to cook down. I started it around 10 am and it’s nowhere near done. </p>
<p>Thanks for trying Consolation. I can tweak recipes and do have so liquid smoke. I’ll tell you if I make it!</p>
<p>I’m a canner also. I usually make a variety of jams that I give out as holiday gifts. For peaches, I’ve made peach jam, peach bellini jam (very good!), and peach salsa. I have a good peach salsa recipe if you want it.</p>
<p>I have mostly stuck to jams and salsas but have made apple butter and pear apple sauce (my father has an asian pear tree–they are more of a consistency of apples, so it turned out really good). </p>
<p>I was just talking to my friend about when we would get together to can some jams and salsa for the fall!</p>
<p>I’m a canner. Watched my mom do it but didn’t get into it until I was well into my 40s. I have even entered county and state fairs, which is quite fun.</p>
<p>I have not canned with a pressure canner, only with water bath. It is fun to have people bring the surplus from their gardens and I turn it into something.</p>
<p>Last year I made watermelon pickles for the first time. Quite a chore but very delicious.</p>
<p>I make freezer jams. I don’t can. </p>
<p>My stock recipe for freezer jam is:
1 pound fruit, mashed
1/4 pound sugar
1 tsp. salt (yes, salt; it makes the sugar taste sweeter)</p>
<p>(You can double or triple the recipe, but use somewhat less salt if you do.)</p>
<p>Simmer at the lowest possible temperature until it thickens. Makes about 1 cup jam. You can freeze whatever jars you won’t use right away. </p>
<p>I made tomato jam this year. Amazing when used as a spread for BLTs. Also very good with crackers and goat cheese. </p>
<p>I have a gourmet friend who adds things like ginger to her jams. They’re good, but I like the bare minimum recipes myself.</p>
<p>I should mention that I also freeze tomatoes. I cut them into chunks and throw them into a zipper bag. When I want to make a fresh sauce, I thaw them a bit, puree them in the blender, and simmer down the sauce; it tastes fresh, even in February. (Also, the puree is very watery; you can cook dry noodles in it and the noodles soak up the sauce and taste great.)</p>
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<p>Does the blender get rid of the seeds and skin?</p>
<p>No, but the skins will slip off easily after the tomatoes have been frozen.</p>
<p>You can always put the pureed tomatoes thru a strainer or food mill if you want the seeds removed. I don’t like seeds in my sauces or cream of tomato soup so I always use a food mill to take them out. </p>
<p>Or if I’m in a hurry, I just squeeze the semi-thawed individual tomato chunks with my fingers and most of the seeds will squirt out. Works for fresh tomatoes too. (This takes a bit of practice and I always squeeze over the sink because—messy!)</p>
<p>I used to make poblano chili jell every year, using pectin. Now just preserved myer lemons and fig preserves in the fridge.</p>
<p>Pesto and roasted and chopped peppers in the freezer.</p>
<p>And I like this technique for making just a little bit at a time; no pectin, no canning, and fresher flavor;</p>
<p><a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/05/food/la-fo-calcook-20100805[/url]”>http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/05/food/la-fo-calcook-20100805</a></p>
<p>I may do the (very) small batch jam making at some point, but my reason for making jam is not mainly for personal use. I like to give it away, which means canning. However, that does not mean you have to use pectin and lots of sugar, which the author of the above article seems to take as a given. My strawberry and peach jam each had three ingredients - fruit, lemon and sugar. I very much liked doing my butters in combination with the crock pot, which removes the standing and stirring. The vanilla peach butter, btw, was finally done this morning. It made 8 pints, but I only canned 7 and gave 1/2 of one to my daughter and kept the other half for us. </p>
<p>Has anyone tried this out? [Ball</a> Jam Maker | How To Make Jam | How To Make Jelly](<a href=“http://www.freshpreserving.com/JamMaker.aspx]Ball”>http://www.freshpreserving.com/JamMaker.aspx)</p>
<p>My problem with freezing a lot of produce is that I don’t seem to have a lot of freezer space. I think I’m a food hoarder…</p>
<p>^ I originally learned learned the method in the LA Times article from Cooksillustrated, but I’d don’t think you can see their story if you are not a paying subscriber to their website. Their goal was a lightly sweetended, “fresher” taste.
[Quick</a> Refrigerator Fruit Jams - Cooks Illustrated](<a href=“http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/article.asp?docid=510&parentdocid=6380]Quick”>http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/article.asp?docid=510&parentdocid=6380)</p>
<p>You can avoid pesto turning brown in the freezer by laying a bit of plastic wrap right on the surface (much like for puddings.) I started making it in some tiny ice cube trays, which turned out to be the right size for a sandwich spread and a very quick defrost in the microwave. We need the recipe for brandied apricot jam and the Vidalia onions. </p>
<p>I make mint jelly, without the food coloring. I get around any Botulism concerns by putting the jars of whatever in the refrigerator. But I do boil them, closed, in a large stock pot, first.</p>
<p>Adore mango chutney, with red onions- which freezes well, also in smallish amounts.</p>
<p>Kathiep,
I bought that jam maker recently. And it is great for small batches. Jam and jelly in 21 minutes. No standing over the hot stove stirring. Comes with basic recipes for regular and low sugar jams.
They have a website with recipes as well, but one of the reviews on Amazon has a bunch of ideas and some recipes. I thought the machine was a good investment.</p>
<p>I STILL have peaches left and found myself interested in the idea of a the smoky peach barbecue sauce that Consolation mentioned in posts #37 and #42. I found a recipe by Marisa (Food in Jars blog) that listed most of the ingredients that I had on hand: [Canning</a> Week: Small Batch Peach Barbecue Sauce | Simple Bites](<a href=“http://www.simplebites.net/small-batch-peach-barbecue-sauce/]Canning”>http://www.simplebites.net/small-batch-peach-barbecue-sauce/) I doubled the recipe (still pretty darn small) and added some fresh hot peppers and 2 T. of liquid smoke. It’s cooking now. It smells pretty smoky, so hope I didn’t go overboard with that…</p>
<p>I also had about 10 plum tomatoes that we’re in danger of going bad so I decided to try dmd and WayOutWestMom’s suggestions of freezing. Hope I don’t lose them in the freezer. </p>
<p>The jam maker sounds like so much fun! I may wait a year and see if they come up with a version for larger batches.</p>
<p>I just made applesauce and it couldn’t have been any easier. I used 35 apples, 20 golden delicious, then 5 of 3 different kinds, fuji, pink ladies and braeburn.</p>
<p>Just cored them, threw them in a big pot and put about an inch of apple cider. No skinning. I cooked for about an hour. I have a grinder attached to the kitchen aide and put it through there. Since I’m worried about canning without acid I put in some lemon juice, just a little brown sugar and some cinnamon. </p>
<p>A person near and dear has cancer and can’t tolerate salty, and apparently loves applesauce so I promised him some homemade sauce.</p>
<p>Sounds delicious eyemamom! I have to say that I’m a fairly adventurous cook and I’ll season canned goods to my taste, but when it comes to the acid to fruit ratios, I really try to go by the book. </p>
<p>Everytime I do something with peaches, my son asks when I’m going to start canning apple stuff. He and his brother love my chunky cinnamon applesauce the most of anything I can. This is good, because he’ll come pick apples with me for the sauce.</p>
<p>The smoky peach barbecue sauce came out very well. At least it tastes good to me. I need to actually use it to find out, I guess.</p>
<p>That’s why I looked up a recipe and saw it called for 35 apples and 4 T of lemon juice. So I knew that ratio and knew it was okay to go it alone after that. Other sites said you didn’t need lemon juice but I’d rather have to add a little sugar and be sure. It was the easiest thing I’ve ever made.</p>
<p>The peach bbq sauce sounds heavenly. It will give me one more thing to try next year during “peachapalooza” - when all the peaches on my tree get picked the same day and get ripe the same day.</p>
<p>Kathiep, that sounds like a lot of liquid smoke! for so few peaches, but glad it turned out well. Did you add some bourbon?</p>