There’s no denying I’m a man who likes to can, fruit especially. This time of year I’m directing a parade of pots and pans on my gas range, keeping track of jellying points, scorching mishaps, rapid boils and slow simmers. For me canning fruit is truly a triumph of capturing summer in a jar. One spoonful of this seasonal goodness, and I’m sitting on the back stoop with Boz and Gracie on a sunny day, taking in a gentle breeze and a fine view.
I have a scrapbook of new recipes to share, but I’ll start out with one that’s easy to make, and wonderfully decadent considering the sparse ingredient list: peaches, sugar, wine and cinnamon sticks. The result, a peach sauce that begs to be dolloped on anything from ice cream to biscuits to pancakes or a mouth wide open.
The following recipe I concocted one day after receiving a box of peaches from my pals at the Washington State Fruit Commission. As one their Canbassadors (yep, I’m a diplomat for fruit), I was invited to enjoy the peaches and share some canning recipes that would showcase this stunning, juicy, delectable fruit. At you service, my friends, at your service.
One of the best things I have ever eaten in my life was a dessert of fresh peaches with a glass of Sauternes. In this recipe, I pair peaches and wine again in a candied fruit sauce I reserve for special occasions.
Candied Peaches in Wine Sauce
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 3lb peaches
- 4 cups sugar
- 2 limes (juices)
- 3 cups wine (sweet whites like Riesling, Proseco, Moscato, Gewurztraminer)
- 2 sticks cinnamon
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Wash peaches. Don't bother peeling; skins dissolve. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Remove pit. Slice in half. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Cut into thick slices. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Place sliced peaches in non-reactive pan (stainless) | |
| Step 5 | |
| Cover peaches with sugar. Add lime juice. | |
| Step 6 | |
| Cover and let sit out overnight. | |
| Step 7 | |
| Add wine, and cinnamon sticks and begin to simmer mixture, stirring until sugar dissolves. | |
| Step 8 | |
| After 5 minutes of low simmer and stirring, turn off heat. | |
| Step 9 | |
| Let cool, and repeat Step 8, as many times as it takes to have peaches reach a translucent, candied appearance. Remove cinnamon, before canning. | |
| Step 10 | |
| When peaches look candied, and the sauce has a syrupy quality, put sauce in jars, and seal using water bath. Or freeze if you prefer. | |
Related Tall Clover Canning Recipes:
Want to learn more about canning?
Check out SweetPreservation.com for information and recipes, including:
- Preservation 101: how-to and safety basics
- Label Artwork: downloadable labels to personalize jars
- Canning Crafts: gift ideas to spread the fruits of the labor
- Preservation Party: ideas on how to throw an at-home canning party
- Health Benefits: information on health benefits linked to stone fruits
On top of all your other skills, you have nice handwriting! Did you use to be a teacher? 🙂
i was thinking the same thing, perri! haha
Perri, why thank you. My second and third grade teaches in South Carolina and Alabama, respectively, suffered no sloppy handwriting. Stern tutorials, and classroom humiliation make for better penmanship, apparently.
Tom, that sounds like a really good recipe. I bet it would be good with pears. Our peaches are gone here in Louisiana, but pears and muscadines are in full swing. Muscadine juice makes awesome pepper jelly. Happy canning. Carol
Carol, I bet that would be wonderful with pears, though I would peel them as their peel can be bitter, and unrelenting in the texture department. I only wish we could grow muscadines here, unfortunately too rainy and cool for those fine southern grapes.
This looks and sounds fabulous!!!
Do you think it would works with apricots? Thinking about that Alsatian jam that I have made repeatedly. If we use just apricots, wine, sugar and a spice of some sort??
Wendy, that apricot jam recipe was the inspiration for this. Yes, absolutely it would work, maybe change out the cinnamon for a vanilla bean or two.
I can’t remember the last time I had a ‘real’ peach – not those dry, grainy things they try to pass off as fruit in our part of the country. BUT if i find any, I will definitely try this recipe – looks fabulous. I want your life….
Thanks Isabel, and I do feel very fortunate, and hope to never take it for granted for one minute.
The Washington State Fruit Commission picked the right person to be their “Canbassador”! Won’t it be wonderful pulling one of those jars from your pantry this winter? I’m jealous.
Hi Eileen, yep I wear my honorable title with gratitude and a bit of panache, I must say. I would wear peaches as a boutonnière if I could. Hope you summer is full of dining al fresco, friends, family and fine food. Of course it is! 🙂
Oh, this sounds excellent. I think I might try this one of these days using mead instead of grape wine.
Laura, I’m almost embarrassed to say I’ve never had mead. Don’t tell my honeybees, they’ll be sorely disappointed in my lack of culinary sophistication. I will now seek it out. Thanks.
Tom, whatever you do, avoid Chaucer’s brand–it’s a pitiful example of the style. Redstone Meadery and Moonlight Meadery are two good commercial ones. Or, find a home brewer! (…says the home brewer)
Oh wow this does look good. And we’ve got a ton of peaches from our trees that we will never finish! Looks like I’ve got plans today… 🙂
Joumana, that’s a good issue to have, too many peaches!
Mercy Tom….this sounds wickedly delicious! We get our peaches from the Oakanagan…if you ever get a chance to try fresh peaches from our interior (they even have a town call Peachland!) they are truly amazing.
Ina, that sounds like my kind of road trip. I hear the Okanagan is one dreamy place, with orchards and vineyards and unlimited sun. Yep, one of these days I need to head up north and eat my way through the bounty of region. Thanks for the heads-up!
Hello Tom,
Three pints of Peach Sublime are boiling away in the canner at this moment, with two more batches of peaches basking in sugar and lime juice on the counter. Sublime is the perfect description- this will be just the thing when the winds blow this winter…
Thank you for this recipe and for the apricot jam recipe as well- a repeat gift for many of my friends.
As an appreciation, I’d like to share this recipe with you- easy and good.
http://heritage-recipes.com/pickles/kansas-pear-honey.htm
Jan Baker
Hi Jan, Thanks for sharing such kind words and thank yous along with this wonderful pear honey recipe. I will definitely try it. I think I might try it with a winter pear like Bosc or Anjou for a chunkier presence in the jam. Looks mighty good, look forward to trying it out for myself. Thank you
Tom
Next year Tom…. This year the tree just gave us 30 peaches but gardeners are all about next year. And if I have to buy them, my money is on organic peaches because of this;
http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/08/13/tribune-peach-study/
and one of the better places to get them in my neck of the woods- Keremeos- billed as Canada’s Organic Capital…
Hi Tom,
I bought a half-bushel of gorgeous Red Haven Michigan peaches and made lots of candied peaches (I wrote you about this with great admiration last week) and still had plenty of peaches left, so I used the basic recipe for candied peaches, with two changes- I only used a cup of wine, and I changed the wine to sauvignon blanc because it is less sweet… I cooked it until it was jammy,using your method- cook it, turn it off, cook it again, canned it, and ooh la la! Three pounds of peaches made 6 8oz jars of magnificence, and I have you, once again, to thank for it!
Thanks for this delicious sounding recipe. I’m trying it right now, but I’ve swapped out the cinnamon for star anise, because I’m obsessed with that magical spice. I have a question – how long are you processing your jars for in the canner? I’m thinking it should be as for canned peaches, 10 mins for half-pints and 20 for pints? I’ve not processed anything with wine before. Exciting!
In canning camaraderie,
Amanda
Hi Amanda, because of the amount of sugar and the wine, I’d say you’d be fine with just 10 minutes, or 15, that’s usually what I do. And I’ll have to try the recipe with star anise, which sounds like a great option to kick it up a bit. Cheers, canning comrade!