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Drunken Peaches

Source of Recipe

From "The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving"


Recipe Introduction

"Bourbon and other fine spirits do double duty when it comes to fruit, acting as both preservative and flavor booster. Try these boozy babies straight up for dessert or blended into a cocktail."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 lemon
â—¦ 5 pounds fresh freestone peaches
â—¦ 3 cups water
â—¦ 2 ½ cups sugar
â—¦ 3 vanilla beans, halved crosswise
â—¦ 6 (¼-inch-thick) orange slices (from 2 small navel oranges)
â—¦ ¾ cup bourbon


Recipe

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl two-thirds full of ice water. Cut lemon in half, and squeeze juice into ice water. Working in batches, place peaches in a wire basket, lower into boiling water, and blanch 60 seconds. Place immediately in lemon juice mixture. When cool enough to handle, peel peaches, cut in half, and remove pits. Cut each half into 4 wedges; return to lemon juice mixture.

Stir together 3 cups water and sugar in a large saucepan. Split vanilla bean halves lengthwise; scrape out seeds. Add vanilla bean and seeds to sugar mixture; cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to and maintain at a low simmer.

Place one orange slice and one vanilla bean half into a hot jar. Drain and tightly pack peach quarters into jar. Ladle hot syrup into jar, leaving 1 ½-inch headspace. Add 2 tablespoons bourbon to jar. Add more hot syrup to jar, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band, and adjust to fingertip-tight. Repeat until all jars are filled.

Process jars 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove lid, and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

Makes about six 1-pint wide-mouth jars