Peach Honey Butter

Our 3 peach seedlings have been mature and producing fruit for the past three seasons! Since we don’t really do any true fruit care for them - they are an experimental part of our dad’s nut orchard and are left to fend for themselves - some of the fruits are often a little blemished and have some bug damage.  Despite this they are delicious when freshly picked (especially sun-warmed while up on the ladder doing the picking!) and the lack of care just showcases how easily one can get useable crops from a simple peach seedling!  This year, I just had to try out something to preserve them since the crop was bountiful, so I chose a peach honey butter recipe from my mom’s collection.  …Did I follow the recipe? In my true kitchen witchy fashion, I did not. 

Here is what I did, and you can see the original recipe in the included photos and typed out below.

Jodi’s Sunday Fun-day Version:

Remove pits and slice up 5lbs fresh seedling peaches. This worked out to around a medium-large mixing bowl full of peaches, as pictured. I did not bother to remove the skins because they are great extra fibre, so why not get them into our bellies? This did result in a more brown peach butter than the golden colour the recipe showcases, so if you are looking for prettier, you may want to follow the original directions to peel the peaches.

Place in crock pot and add ¼ cup of water plus ½ cup of honey. Let it do its thing for a few hours, then use an emulsion blender (carefully, hot splatters aren't fun) and blend until smooth.

I cooked this for around 6 hours while going about my day and discovered that the “butter” was more of a “sauce”, so I ended up simmering it down for a few hours (in the same manner as the original recipe) in a saucepan before hot-packing it in sterilized jars. I also added another ¼ cup of honey stirred in well prior to hot-packing.

Original Recipe, yields 6 pints: Note that it is double what I did, and has a lot more sugar than honey. I omitted the sugar completely.

• 10 pounds peaches, peeled and chopped
• ½ cup water
• 4-½ cups sugar
• 1-½ cups honey

In a large kettle, cook the peaches in water until soft. Press through a sieve or food mill.  Measure 12 cups of pulp; return to kettle. Add sugar and honey. Cook, stirring often, until mixture thickens, about 1 & 1/4 hours. Stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent sticking. Pour hot into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4  inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

And that’s peach honey butter! An easy way to use up some peaches and have a unique host gift, pancake topper, crepe filler, cheesecake topping, or toast spread.

Wishing you a lovely day,

Jodi from Silver Creek Nursery