Peach Chipotle Jelly

YELLOW PEACH CHIPOTLE JELLY: After steeping overnight, this tasted good - smoky with a bit of a kick which will go down a few notches when I add the sugar and lemon. I strained it with a metal mesh strainer and the put it through the jelly bag. I was so enchanted with the color and body of the white peach jelly that I wanted to try it again!

Next time - more chipotle peppers.

RECIPE:

1. Strain juice from cooked peaches and measure. I ended up with 6 c. juice.
2. Strain juice through jelly bag -- add 1 c. water and simmer with 2-4 chipotle peppers. Let steep and stand overnight if you have the time, otherwise, add more water and simmer away longer.
3. Measure - add more water to get back to 6 cups (remember - you're boiling away water, you don't necessarily want to concentrate the peachiness and decrease your yield).
4. Add 1/2 c. lemon juice, and follow instructions for your pectin. I used Pomona's Pectin, so added 6 tsp of "calcium water" and put 6 tsp of pectin powder into 2.5 c. of sugar.
5. Bring to a boil, then add the sugar-pectin mix, stir and make sure it dissolves and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. Return to a simmer.
7. Skim foam.
8. Put a test -- a teaspoon of jelly on a plate -- in the freezer for a few minutes. If it looks and feels like jelly in your mouth, you're probably all set. If not, let another test set longer, then consider adding a bit more pectin (mixed with sugar if you're using Pomona's).
9. Put into sterile, hot jars from the oven and set on the counter, or hot water process.
10. Label these jars - you don't want someone who hates spicy to get a surprise!
    

YIELD:
9 - 8 oz jars

Peach Jam

YELLOW PEACH JAM: Ah, here we are at midnight again... I cut up 2 gallons of peaches and have made peach jam. This time, I did take the skins off, so had a pot of water boiling in front of the bigger pot for the peaches, and the peaches on a big commercial baking sheet on the edge of the sink with the cutting board and cutting bowl in the middle. For 2 hours, I listened to the Olympics and had 5-6 peaches in the hot water, skinned, pitted and mashed or chopped the others. I put the hot peaches under cold water and on the side of the tray nearest me.

Then, I let the whole pot simmer while I pressed a bag full of lemons from Regan's tree -- I got 3 cups of juice which I need for jelly and for spanakopita (among other things!). I strained the fruit and divided it -- 8 cups in each pot, reserving 8 cups of juice. I ended up putting about 1.5 c of juice back into the fruit after adding the pectin, lemon and sugar.

Before going to bed, simmered the juice I strained from the pulp with some dried chipotle peppers and am going to let it steep overnight for a smoky peach chipotle jelly. No pictures, and I hope to make it to the 5:45 swim tomorrow... I'll never make it to the Olympics, unless it is the preserving Olympics!

YIELD:
14 - 12 oz
1 - 4 oz

Peach Chutney Two Ways

Reviewing recipes for peach chutney, I didn't find anything that really excited me. I wanted to do two versions -- one dark and smoky, one lighter with a bit of spice but more sweet. Here's what I have, so far, and this may change as I amend what's on the stove.

Peach Chutney - Base Ingredients: 5# Peaches, pitted & halved* 2.5 c (10 oz) chopped red bell pepper 3 c (10 oz) chopped white onion 2.5 oz chopped garlic 4 oz chopped fresh ginger (mince very fine or pulse in food processor)** 1/2 stick Ceylon cinnamon 2.25 c apple cider vinegar Combine ingredients in pot and turn on med-low. Pick a variation or make your own. *You might want to crush the peaches or coarsely chop them. If they are really ripe, you can just mash them with your hands. I didn't peel the peaches, and for the underripe peaches, this resulted in some skins floating up and looking unattractive. With ripe peaches, skins/fuzz cook down nicely. **The minced ginger still looks pretty chunky in my dark chutney; I might recommend pulverizing the heck out of it in a food processor or blender, or using preserved chopped ginger in a jar if you want it to really blend into the chutney.
Variation 1: Smoky Peach Chutney		Variation 2: Light Peach Chutney
4 oz chopped dried figs 1 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp brown mustard seed 1/4 - 1/2 oz dried chipotle peppers* 1/4 tsp cardamom seeds 1.5 c Sucanat or Rapadura sugar 1.5 c dark brown sugar Added 1# chopped peaches. *Recommend putting the chipotle peppers in whole so that they are easier to extract. The chutney is pretty smokin' right now, and I am taking out pepper pieces so that it doesn't get too hot for anyone other than me and my crazy friends to eat.		4 oz chopped dates 2 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp fenugreek 1 T red pepper flakes 2 tsp cardamom seeds 2 c unrefined cane sugar 1 c dark brown sugar 1/2 c rapadura

The onions and everything cooked down a lot nicer in the light chutney. The dark chutney is very chunky. I think I am going to be up for a while to let it simmer down more, rest it on the stove overnight and simmer more tomorrow.

Update: the chutneys both look really good and taste good. They will have to wait until this afternoon to get put into jars.

Update (2): the ginger softened quite a lot during the day, so I imagine after ripening in the jars, everything will be pretty soft. I adjusted the sugar (already reflected above).

YIELD:

Variation 1: Smoky Peach Chutney
1 - 12 oz
10 - 8 oz
6 - 4 oz

Variation 2: Light Peach Chutney
9 - 8 0z
6 - 4 oz


I'm out of small jars! I have a few 12 oz, and all the rest are pint and quart size. Tomorrow I'll do up the remaining peaches as Peach Jelly and it will all be in big jars. Family size.

Peachy Keen...

Tonight was the night to finish up the white peach jam and jelly -- my brother came over to help with the solar dehydrator, and says he'll return to complete it. Tonight, I didn't scorch the bottoms of any pans badly and it all seems to be setting well. I also used my food mill attachment for the first time to pulverize half the peach flesh for the jam. I think it came out quite well. When the rest of the neighbor's peaches are ready -- I'm going to make peach chutney and canned peach slices (big jars of 'em!). I find myself eagerly anticipating the availability of Concord grapes -- two neighbors have those and I have always wanted to make grape jelly! I need to build a garage to store all these jellies!

WHITE PEACH JAM
1 - 4 oz
7 - 8 oz
6 - 16 oz

WHITE PEACH JELLY
9 - 4 oz
10 - 8 oz

My home is filled with the plink-a-licious sounds of success. I still have to cut up and cook down some apricots so there is room in my fridge. Yes - more apricot jam tomorrow night. I'm just going to put this all in 16 oz jars -- these are the apricots from my sweetie's neighbor's tree. I have a feeling that this batch of apricot jam will be going to the homes of the kids in James' neighborhood!