This is one of my favourite ways to preserve peaches, apricots, nectarines … or any seasonal fruit. The general idea is that you cook a kilogram or so of chopped fruit with some honey, spices and lemon juice, purée it all and then cook the purée so it reduces and thickens to a beautiful butter. It’s amazing on toast, as a cake filling and anywhere else you’d use jam. I love it as a sweet scroll filling, as for the peach scrolls.
1kg2 lb 4 oz peaches or other stone fruit, chopped
¼cup90 g honey
¼tspground cinnamon
1vanilla beansplit lengthways
A pinch of sea salt
Juice of 1 lemon
Instructies
Combine the peaches, honey and cinnamon in a large, deep saucepan.
Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the scraped pod.
Add ¼ cup (60 ml) water and stir well.
Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the peaches have collapsed completely.
Discard the vanilla pod, transfer the peach mixture to a blender (or use a stick blender) and blitz to a purée.
Add the salt and lemon juice, to taste – add a little at a time, testing after each addition until you have the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.
Return the purée to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring often, for about 40 minutes or until the mixture thickens and reduces.
Pour the butter into sterilised jars, seal and refrigerate for 3–4 weeks.