Queenie’s Pickled Peaches
recipe from Holly Hill Inn and photography by Talitha Schroeder
We’ll only have local peaches for a few weeks (if we’re lucky!) so pickling is a great way to enjoy their precious flavor in unexpected ways. Try this recipe for Queenie’s Pickled Peaches, which former sous chef Lisa Laufer used to prepare every summer.
Ingredients
For the spice syrup:
2 cups apple cider vinegar
3 cups white sugar
½ cup white corn syrup
One spice bag of the following wrapped in cheesecloth/coffee filter and tied:
1 dozen whole cloves
½ tablespoon whole coriander seed
½ teaspoon ground mace
2 cinnamon sticks (might not fit in sachet)
1 tablespoons whole mustard seed
4 whole allspice berries
Directions
Combine all ingredients together in a large pot and add the spice bag. Bring to a boil, reduce heat slightly and cook at a slow boil for 20 minutes. Remove the spice bag and discard. At this point, you can continue the pickling process or cool the syrup, pour it into a jar and refrigerate until needed.
Ready to pickle?
Buy a half dozen small to medium-sized peaches from your local farmstand or farmers market. It’s better if they’re on the barely ripe side. Bring a pot of water to the boil and have a large bowl of ice water handy. To keep the peaches from darkening while you’re working, squeeze a lemon into the ice water.
Slip the peaches, a few at a time, into the boiling water for a minute or two, slip off their skins and cool in the ice water until all are peeled. When finished, drain the peaches but keep the bowl handy. Set the peeled peaches on a clean kitchen towel.
If you’ve made the syrup in advance, empty the pot you used for boiling water, dry it out, refill with the reserved syrup and bring it back to a boil. If you’re doing everything in one stage, keep the syrup simmering while you peel the peaches, then bring it back to a slow boil.
Either way, start cooking the peaches – a few at a time – in the boiling syrup until tender, about five minutes (or when you can pierce them easily with a broomstraw or skewer.)
As they cook, remove each batch with a slotted spoon and place in the bowl. When all the peaches are cooked and in the bowl, pour the syrup over them, cover the bowl loosely and let the peaches and syrup stand until cool.
Fill clean jars or containers with the peaches in their syrup and store in the refrigerator. Make sure the syrup covers them completely and use your peaches within a month. Alternatively, process in canning jars according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
It’s great to keep a batch of this syrup in the fridge; you’ll be ready to pickle any fruit that comes your way – try cherries, crabapples, plums or nectarines (none of which need to be peeled first!)
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