Old Fashioned Peach Butter

Recipe Yields 8-10 pints.

Prepare 8-10 pint-sized canning jars by sterilizing them in hot boiling water for 5 minutes. Add 8-10 jar lids and rings to the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Lay jars upside down along with lids and rings on a sheet pan lined with a towel; set aside.

Wash peaches. With a sharp knife, peel 3 or 4 peaches at a time leaving 1/8″ to 1/4″ of peach with the peelings. As soon as the peaches are peeled, set the peeled peaches aside and put the peelingss in a large stock pot on the stove. Cover peach peelings with enough sugar that they are not showing. As you peel more peaches continue layering peelings and sugar until all the peaches are peeled.

Take the peeled peaches and slice them, discarding the seed. Put the fruit into a large bowl. Sprinkle some Fruit Fresh on them (look on the bottle for directions on how much), and toss them really well, being sure all of the fruit is coated with the Fruit Fresh.

Now you can freeze the peaches in Ziplock bags to use for cobblers, preserves, ice cream and other dishes later.

Once all the peaches are peeled, and all of the peelings are in the pot with layers of sugar, you can add cinnamon, cinnamon stick, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and water to the peach peelings. (Do not add any Fruit Fresh to the peelings.)

On medium to medium high heat, cook the peelings for 4-6 hours until smooth and very little liquid is left. Remove the cinnamon sticks at the end of the cook time.

To get the creamy and smooth texture of butter, transfer cooked peelings to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. At this time, if the peach butter has cooled down, heat it up until bubbly. Once the peach butter is hot, pour into the prepared, sterilized jars and process according to standard safe canning practices. Turn jars upside down to seal. Once cooled turn jars upright.

Note for peach butter: You can use the whole peach if you like instead of freezing the fruit. If using the whole peach, chop them up into 1/4 inch cubes and process the same.

Note for peaches that are frozen: Only use the Fruit Fresh on the peaches that are to be frozen, not the peelings or any fruit that you are processing into peach butter.