Really love your peaches

We had a lovely weekend a week ago (this past weekend was fun too, but not particularly blog-worthy), welcoming my sister, my father-in-law and some friends for a visit. While Tres and his dad put up insulation in the shop (thank you!), my sister and I headed out to our neighborhood orchard to pick nectarines and peaches.


It started out (unbelievably, as in this so rarely happens here) raining that morning, so it was both cooler and quieter than I'd expected. It didn't take long to pick our 6 pounds of nectarines, but we dawdled a bit, taking some pretty photos - all of the photo credits from this post go to my wonderful sister, who graciously brought her camera and photo-documented the proceedings, as my camera remains to be fixed/replaced - and enjoying the lovely morning.

Next, we were off to find a food mill/strainer, so that we could get to making some nectarine butter! It took a few stops (apparently, the myriad food mills I had seen in antique/junk shops around here had since sold), but we found an appropriate item and then settled in to work.

testing its efficacy (could it fit more perfectly?)

First, we prepared the fruit (halving, pitting, and removing any bruised flesh)


Next, we cooked them with water and spices until they liquefied.



Here's where the strainer came in. Now that the nectarines were cooked, we needed to puree them and remove their skins.

After that, we cooked the puree down to a "butter-y" (as in fruit spread, not dairy) consistency. This is, I wholeheartedly admit, my least favorite step. It always takes forever and you have to be really vigilant about stirring, so as not to burn anything. That said, I am proud to say (sorry to divulge this to any of you who've been gifted jam by me in the past) that this is the first time I've not burned anything onto the bottom of a pot of jam!

me, doing my favorite job

Finally, it was into sterilized jars and a water bath, before cooling.

the jars are sterilized


in the water bath

sealing

Wowee - the butter turned out so deliciously! If any of you are interested in trying it out yourself, here's where I got it http://www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench/butter-me-up-nectarine-butter/. The only change we made (and it's a weird one) is substituting 1/2 teaspoon ground garam masala for the cloves. It was a substitution of necessity (credit for the quick-thinking goes to Tres), but I'm so happy with the way it turned out, that I think I'll keep the change. I made a double batch again this past weekend.