Brandied Peaches
This came out of a 1973 canning book but the recipe itself is much, much older as I knew folks in NC that have been making the same recipe since 1900's. It is less time consuming than making brandied peaches by fermenting. Don't increase the amount of brandy. It makes a potent jar of peaches in my opinion. I used Hiram Walker Apricot flavoured brandy to make mine because that is what I drink. The peaches did not taste like apricots. We waited 30 days before trying a jar. You can probably do these with Apricots and Nectarines as well. Processing times should be the same. I cut my peaches into halves and removed the pits. A widemouth jar is the easiest to pack the peaches into.
Brandied Peaches
Hot Pack in Glass Jars Only!
The peaches should be small to medium in size, firm-ripe and with an attractive colour, blemish-free (they make a really pretty jar if you want to make up and give as gifts). Wash the peaches. Using a coarse-textured towel, rub off all their fuzz (peaches that you get from farmers markets, fruit stands, packing houses have already had most of their fuzz removed... home grown peaches and "pick-your-own" peaches will have a very heavy fuzz). Weigh the peaches.
For every 1 pound of peaches, make a heavy sirup of 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water. Bring sirup to boiling and, when sugar has dissolved, add the whole peaches and simmer them for 5 minutes. Drain, save the sirup and keep it hot.
Without crushing, fit the peaches into clean, sterilized , hot pint-size jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom. Pour 2 tablespoons of brandy over the peaches in each pint jar, using proportionately more brandy for quarts. Fill jars with hot sirup, leaving 1/2 inch headroom; adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath (212F) Pints = 15 minutes... Quarts = 20 minutes. Remove jars. Let cool
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