Pickled Peaches

I’ll be honest – the first time I made pickled peaches, I was very skeptical (and you probably are too). Alas! I’m so glad that I persevered, because these lovelies are nothing like the mushy, slimy, overly sweet peaches that come from a can at the store. Homemade pickled peaches strike the perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and a little bit of spice – they are delicious spooned over ice cream, dropped in a glass of sparkling wine/water, served in a salad or alongside sandwiches, or better yet – just eaten straight from the jar. These are 'refrigerator' pickles, so there's no need to deal with hot water bath canning, and they store in your fridge for ~1 month - so it’s a great way to extend the life of your stone fruit. Keep scrolling for the recipe, which was adapted from chef Damaris Phillips’ recipe.

Quick Pickled Peaches

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Yield: 1 quart-sized jar, or 2 pints

Author: Michelle Aronson, Farmbelly

ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1-inch chunk ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 pounds peaches (about 6-7 peaches), peeled, pitted and quartered

instructions:

How to cook Quick Pickled Peaches

1. To peel the peaches, make sure they are ripe (but not too soft). Cut a shallow cross in skin at blossom end of each peach. Plunge the peaches, a few at a time, into large pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds. Transfer fruit to bowl of ice water until cool enough to handle, then strip away skins using your fingers (use paring knife for any stubborn bits). Cut the peeled peaches into quarters or 1/2" thick slices.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the vinegar, honey, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes. You do not want this to get too hot or it will over-cook the peaches.
3. Put the ginger in the bottom of a 1-quart mason jar, then fill with the peeled peaches. Pour the liquid over the peaches, leaving 1/2" of head space. All to cool, seal, and store in the refrigerator. They will be ready to eat in a few days, and will last in the fridge for 1 month.

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Apricot Jam

Eating like a farmer means preserving fruits and veggies when they are comin' in hot and heavy from the fields, so you can save + savor the bounty all year long. So while pickling, fermenting, kombucha-making, and jamming are all the rage these days - let's be clear that these methods of food preservation have been going down in farmhouse kitchens for a long, looooong time.

So let's talk about jam. I won't claim to be an expert jam-maker, but I DID manage to make 200+ jars of small-batch jam for our wedding guests back in 2014, and no one perished from botulism, so I suppose that's something... right? And while entire books (and great blog posts, like this one) have been written about jamming, I'm going to briefly summarize the basics + share some tips and tricks I've developed after countless hours jamming out over the stove. Keep scrolling for a recipe (adapted from Serious Eats) for sunshine in a jar... aka Apricot Jam. 

PECTIN, SUGAR AND ACID

• Pectin is a carbohydrate that helps to ‘set’ jam. It is particularly concentrated in the skins and cores of fruit. I should note here that I do not add store-bought/commercial pectin in my jam recipes, and instead rely on the naturally occurring pectin in fruit + lemon juice for acidity to help the fruit set. Pectin, whether naturally occurring or added, requires heat, sugar, and acid to activate. 
• High/Moderate Pectin Fruits: blackberries, citrus, cranberries, gooseberries, pears, plums, quinces, sour apples
• Low Pectin Fruits: apricots, blueberries, figs, grapes, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries
• Low-pectin fruits benefit from lemon juice to boost the acidity and setting of the jam. Unripe fruit will also increase acidity. Avoid making jam with overripe fruit, because as fruit ripens the pectin begins to break down.
• My rule of thumb for the ratio of fruit / sugar / lemon juice:
  • Weigh your fruit. Take half the weight of the fruit and use it as your sugar measurement. Use as many ounces of lemon juice as you used pounds of sugar. For example, if you are making strawberry jam with 4 lbs strawberries, use 2 lbs sugar, and 2 ounces of lemon juice.

GENERAL TIPS + TOOLS

• Any time you are preserving food, it's super important to use sterilized jars. You can sterilize jars by putting them in a 225F oven for 20 minutes. Once sterilized, turn the oven off and leave in the warm oven until the jam is ready. Jars and lids can also be boiled for 10-15 minutes in a large saucepan of water, then dried in the oven at a low temperature.
• Use a non-reactive pot like stainless steel, enamel, or copper when making jam. 
• This jam-making set is a GAME CHANGER (and I really, really wish someone had told me about it back in 2014 when I was making 200 jars of jam by hand with some very un-efficient equipment)
• Use tempered jars that can withstand the temperatures involved in sterilizing, jam-making and storage. 

APRICOT JAM

PREP + COOK TIME: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs firm-but-ripe freestone apricots (such as Blenheims), halved and pitted
• 3 lbs sugar
• 3 ounces fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
1. In the non-reactive saucepan that you plan to make the jam, combine apricots, sugar, and lemon juice and mix until all the sugar is moistened. If some sugar remains dry, allow to macerate until fruit has released enough juices to moisten sugar, 5 to 15 minutes. At this point, you can blend the fruit-sugar mixture with an immersion blender if you woul like the finished jam to have a smoother texture. For more rustic jam with pieces of fruit, leave as is. Set a small plate in the freezer.
2. Plae the pot on the stove and heat over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until sugar is melted and mixture starts to bubble, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Heat apricot mixture over medium-high heat, stirring with a flat wooden spoon as needed to prevent burning, until jam starts to foam, about 15 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring to prevent burning, until foaming has subsided, about 15 minutes longer; scrape any foam off jam surface with a stainless steel spoon as needed.
4. Taste the jam (carefully.. it's HOT!) - there should be a balance of sweetness and tartness. Make small adjustments (ie more sugar or lemon juice) if needed.
5. Continue to cook until bubbling has slowed and jam looks glossy and jam appears thickened around the edge, 10 to 15 minutes. Lower heat as necessary to prevent scorching. Turn off heat and set a dollop of jam on the small plate waiting in the freezer - allow it to sit in the freezer for a few minutes. The jam is ready once it holds together wrinkles when you push it with your finger. If jam is too runny, return to heat and cook, stirring frequently and repeating the spoon test every 5 minutes, until jam passes the "wrinkle" test.
6. Fit sterilized jars with a wide-mouth funnel. Ladle jam mixture into jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Take a clean towel and wipe the rims of each jar. Put lids and rings on jars and tighten. At this point, jam may simply be kept refrigerated, up to 1 month.
7. To process jars in a hot water bath: have a large stock pot filled with water and ready at a rolling boil by the time you are filling jars with jam. Place filled jars with tightened lids into the boiling water one at a time, using a jar lifter or tongs. Keep jars upright at all times. Add more boiling water, if needed, so that water covers jars by at least 2 inches. Increase heat to high and cover. Once water begins boiling, heat jars for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and gently transfer jars out of the stock pot and onto your counter to cool. Avoid placing jars on a cold surface or near a cold draft. Let jars sit undisturbed until fully cooled. Check to make sure all jars have sealed by pressing your finger to the middle of the lid (if sealed, the lid will not pop).

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit

Without question, cherry tomatoes are my favorite kind of tomato. And my favorite way to cook these sweet bursts of sunshine? Slow roasting them in a warm, luxurious bath of olive oil, fresh herbs, and garlic. This method is called a confit (pronounced con-FEE ), which is a culinary technique where an ingredient is slow cooked in liquid fat. And when I say slow cooked, there's an emphasis on the world slow – as this recipe needs 2-3 hours in the oven.

That being said, this couldn't be easier to prep – just toss your cherry tomatoes onto a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil, herbs, garlic, and some flaky sea salt. The end result is a bevy of cherry tomatoes bursting with juicy, caramelized sweetness – not to mention the leftover olive oil that's infused with glorious tomato-garlic-herb-iness. The slow roasted tomatoes (and the aforementioned infused olive oil) are fabulous on toasted bruschetta, incorporated in bright summer salads, topped on warm ricotta or polenta, or served alongside grilled meats, fish, or chicken. The recipe (which was slightly adapted from the wonderful blog ful-filled) is very forgiving, so feel free to change it up / use what you have on hand. 

SLOW ROASTED CHERRY TOMATO CONFIT

PREP + COOK TIME: 10 minutes prep, 2-3 hours in the oven

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup olive oil
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• Flaky sea salt
Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 275F.
2. Fill a rimmed baking tray with whole cherry tomatoes. Add olive oil, garlic, thyme, and rosemary to the tray and sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt.
3. Roast, uncovered for 2-3 hours until the tomatoes are swollen and the skins are wrinkled (total time will depend on the size of your tomatoes).
4. Cool tomato mixture to room temperature, discard the rosemary, thyme, and garlic (this lengthens the shelf life of the tomatoes). Store tomatoes with oil and accumulated pan juices in an airtight container (I use mason jars) in refrigerator up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 2 months. Bring tomatoes to room temperature before serving (as the olive oil will harden in the fridge/freezer).