I was trying to put up an overwhelming load of peaches when I stumbled on this recipe. I found the recipe first on one of my favorite food blogs, Local Kitchen, and she had gotten it from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Local Kitchen actually adapted the recipe wonderfully to begin with, but then added sea salt, which was kinda masterful. I do the same here.
I was excited to try it since I had a batch of home made chocolate liqueur hanging around that I wasn’t going to be using up any time soon. I think the fact that I used my own chocolate liqueur had a bit of a negative impact on the results. Mostly because it was my first try making chocolate liqueur and I hadn’t actually perfected the process yet, so the featured ingredient in the jar wasn’t awesome.
Which is a great reminder of the lesson that the end result of everything you cook is dependent on the quality of your ingredients.
That said, this recipe is a keeper and for anyone with a chocolate habit, I highly recommend it.
Ingredients
4 pounds blanched, peeled, pitted peaches, cut into chunks (held in acidulated water!)
2 cups sugar
1 cup chocolate liqueur
juice of four lemons
cocoa, if needed
sea salt
Method
- Heat sugar, chocolate liqueur and lemon juice in a large pot to boil, cooking until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat, add peaches and cover. Refrigerate overnight.
- Strain peaches and reduce liquid to thick sauce. Add more cocoa, if desired, and salt
- Transfer the collected peach juice to a large, high-sided stockpot (the sauce will spit). While bringing to a boil over high heat, add more cocoa if needed and salt. These additions should be done by taste.
- Cook syrup to 220F and add peaches.
- Bring back to a boil, stirring actively to ensure the mixture doesn’t scorch, and cook until it is very thick.
- Process for 10 minutes in a BWB.
