Spiced Peach Butter

Oh how I love this recipe! Okay I have always been a fan of apple butter, we always have a jar of it in our fridge. I also love pear butter. When trying to figure out what to do with all the peaches on our tree, rather than just bottling them all I decided to make peach butter! I have never heard of peach butter or seen it, but figured it must exist if you can make butter out of so many other fruits (I would love to look up Mango butter mmmm..).

I found a couple different recipes and decided to mix them up and then add my own ingredients as well. That's how I always cook. Let me just tell you it was a masterpiece!! Not only did my house smell like the yummiest, Fall scented candle ever, our breakfast this morning was delicious!!

This recipe makes enough to fill 3 large quart jars (about 30 ripe peaches). If you don't want to make that much or bottle it, just do the math and divide this recipe into a smaller portion. Then put it in the fridge and eat it cold. I'm sure you could freeze it as well in freezer bags. It would make a wonderful gift this Fall or even for Christmas. I think i will make more and give it away with Great Harvest bread.

I added salt and lemon juice to this recipe and I'll tell you why. Salt will enhance the flavor in any fruit and lemon juice combined with salt adds just the right formula to really pull out the flavor. Anytime I make pies or tarts, I always add lemon juice and salt to the recipe and I am never let down. Otherwise deserts can be too sweet and it tastes like a mouthful of sugar.

Spiced Peach Butter

• 30 ripe peaches ( or 24 cups of peach puree)
• 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp of allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Boil peaches for 60 seconds. Then place peaches in a cold water bath - this will help the skins comes off easier (if your peaches are not ripe the skin will still cling to the peach and the pits will be difficult to remove). Skin and pit all your peaches, then place in the blender. Puree them all into a smooth soup mixture. Pour into a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the rest of your ingredients. Turn heat down to low and allow to simmer for 3 hours - stirring every 10-15 minutes. Make sure you don't walk away from it, if it is still boiling. You could also simmer on medium heat in your crock pot for about 6 hours, just leave the lid cracked so that that steam can escape. That is how your peach butter will thicken is by allowing the steam and moisture to escape.

After 3 hours turn off stove and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then freeze or pour into jars, screw on lids and submerge in a boiling water bath (5 minutes for pint jars, 10 minutes for quart jars). Then cool for 24 hours. Make sure they have sealed properly. Before serving, refrigerate for 24 hours. This will allow butter to thicken more and it just tastes better cold. Enjoy on toast, waffles, pancakes or muffins!