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Brandied Peaches (Take large white or yellow)
Take large white or yellow free stone peaches, not over ripe. Scald them by pouring over boiling water, cover and let stand till the water becomes cold. Repeat this scalding, then take them out and rub with a soft cloth until perfectly dry. Put into stone jars; cover with brandy. Tie paper over the tops of the jars and let remain for one or two weeks. Then make the syrup from one pound of granulated sugar, and a half pint of water to each pound of peaches. Boil and skim. Put the peaches in this syrup and simmer till tender. Take out, drain and put in glass jars. Stand the syrup aside to cool; when cold, mix equal quantities of syrup and brandy in which you had the peaches. Pour over the peaches, tie up and put away.
If you prefer the peaches pared, simply pare them, cook until tender in the syrup, place them in jars. When the syrup is cold mix with it an equal quantity of brandy, pour this over the peaches, seal, and keep in a cool, dark place.
A two-stage preserve: the fruit steeps in straight brandy for a week or two, then is cooked in sugar syrup and put up in a half-and-half mix of that syrup and the steeping brandy. The proportions are the whole point, and they should not be trimmed.
- Dry the fruit completelyThe rubbing-dry step after scalding is the hinge. Water clinging to the skins dilutes the brandy in the steeping jar, and a weakened alcohol level is what turns a keeping preserve into a spoiling one. Drain and blot every peach before it goes into the jar.
- Half a pint of waterThat is one cup, per pound of sugar, per pound of peaches. Weigh the fruit before you start rather than guessing; a pound is roughly three medium peaches.
- Stone jarsGlazed stoneware crocks. Old or imported glazed earthenware can leach lead under acid and alcohol, so use glass or food-safe stoneware for the steeping stage.
- Tie paper over the topsA paper cover is a dust guard, not a seal, and was meant for a cold cellar. Use a loose lid or a jar ring, keep the crock cold and dark, and understand that nothing about this stage is shelf-stable on its own.
- Simmer till tenderKeep it at a bare simmer and test with a skewer; the time varies with the size and ripeness of the fruit. A rolling boil collapses the fruit and the peaches go to shreds in the jar.
- Keep the brandy proportionEqual parts syrup and steeping brandy gives a finished liquid somewhere near 20 percent alcohol, and that concentration plus the sugar and the natural acidity of peaches is what preserves them. Cutting the brandy back, or topping up with water or extra syrup, removes the preservative and leaves you with a jar of sweetened fruit that needs refrigeration.
- Brandy to useA plain 80-proof brandy, not a cask-aged sipping bottle whose character will be lost. Do not substitute a low-proof fruit liqueur; the alcohol level is doing work here.
- Sealing and storage"tie up and put away" meant a cool cellar. Refrigerate the finished jars, or process them by a current tested water-bath method if you want them at room temperature. Let them sit at least a month before opening.
Brandied peaches were among the most common of American household preserves through the nineteenth century, particularly in the peach-growing South and mid-Atlantic, where a good crop arrived all at once and had to be dealt with. Freestone varieties were specified because the flesh releases the pit cleanly and holds its shape in syrup; the large yellow freestones that dominated commercial orchards from the late nineteenth century on are generally traced to Georgia breeding work of the 1870s. The double scald here does two jobs at once, loosening the fuzz and skins and giving the fruit a brief heat treatment before it meets the spirit. That the recipe appears under "Salads and Dressings" reflects an older and looser sense of the category: sweet spiced and brandied fruits were served alongside roast meats and game much as a relish or compote would be, rather than as dessert.