Peach Butter
May 24th, 2009 by prissycook
It was a 1 1/2 years ago that I was introduced to Apple Butter. I had never heard of it, never had and OMG, I don’t know that I’ve had something tastier to put on a biscuit. For this whole time, I thought Apple Butter was a seasonal specialty that had to be acquired from special apple growing regions of the country. I cherished my Apple Butter, purchased the good (aka expensive) canned biscuits and savored each seasonal batch.
You can hopefully imagine my shock when someone said to me that you can make all sorts of fruit butters using a crock pot! At first I was shocked and challenged them that perhaps I wasn’t explaining Apple Butter correctly. Because if they had ever had it they would understand that you couldn’t make something that delicious in a (I’m sorry) low rent crock pot!
But they insisted, that yes, you can apple, peach, pear butter all in a crock.
A short Google search later, I had proof and a recipe.
I used yellow peaches I picked at Schneph Farms in Queen Creek, Arizona.
The peach taste held its own, even with the cinnamon, all spice and cloves. Next, I’m going to can!
How to make Peach Butter from Pick Your Own:
It takes about 5 good sized peaches or nectarines (or about 10 plums) to make one quart of prepared peaches. And each quart of prepared peaches cooks down to about 1 pint of peach butter.
You’ll need about 5 large peaches per pint of peach butter that you want to make!
For one batch in a 5 to 6 quart crock pot you’ll need about 30 medium to large peaches! The rest of the measurements assume you’re making one full batch!
Peel the peaches.
Set the crock pot on low or medium heat.
To the crock pot gently stir in:
2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
4 cups sugar
Peaches
Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels. You don’t want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken.
Leave it to cook for 6 – 12 hours. How long depends on the size and power of your crock pot, and how thick you like it, If you want to stir it occasionally, that’s fine but not necessary.
It will reduce in volume by about half overnight.
I used an imersion blender to smooth out the peach bits in the crock pot.
Keesha oversees recruiting and training programs for GoDaddy.com. She is responsible for building programs that attract and retain amazing employees.
Keesha loves food and photography and is passionate about community volunteering. She sat on the board of directors for the Junior League of Phoenix and is on the Children's Museum of Phoenix committee. She attended Blinn College and Texas A&M University. Her most private cupcake confession? She doesn't like frosting!