I love this harvest time of year, but it can get crazy when we start the canning season. Last week we canned Cresthaven peaches in extra-light syrup, peach pie filling and a Peach Vanilla Syrup that is great for pancakes or flavoring drinks. Below are the recipes for the peach pie filling and syrup. I love to have the jars of pie filling in my food storage for dutch oven cobblers during the summer…or Belgian waffles…or crepes…but I digress. Anyhoo, here are the recipes and process:
I used the same basic syrup recipe to cover the sliced peaches for the Peach Pie Filling and stirred diced peaches into it for the Peach Vanilla Bean Syrup.
PEACH SYRUP for PIE FILLING
In a large pan, mix together:
4 1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. Clear Jel (You can use cornstarch to thicken but I prefer Clear Jel because of the clarity it gives the syrup. I actually used 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 c. because I was using Ultra Maxi Jel.)
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Combine and add to dry ingredients in pot:
2 tsp. salt
5 c. peach juice (I used an Apple Peach Passion-fruit 100% juice blend that we picked up at Costco. It was reasonably priced and added just the right flavor.)
4 c. water
Stir the water mixture into the sugar mixture and bring to boil. Cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat and ADD:
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
Pour the mixture over the sliced peaches in pint or quart jars for pie filling, leaving a generous 1″ headspace (the hot syrup expands, so this is important to ensure the jars don’t overflow). Clean jar rims and attach lids and rings before processing in a water bath canner for 25 minutes.
To make the Peach Vanilla Bean Syrup, add two vanilla beans (that are sliced open) to the syrup as it heats. When the syrup is thick and bubbly, stir in finely diced peaches to your liking. You can leave the syrup plain, but I like to add the bits of fruit. Remove the vanilla beans and pour the syrup into hot pint jars. Clean jar rims, attach lids and rings, and process for 25 minutes in a hot water bath canner.
I wondered if you had tried your peach pie filling yet – I had read that it was better to wait until you open your filling to thicken it because the thickener tended to lessen quite a bit through the canning process. So, I have yet to open mine and try to thicken it after – I wondered what your thoughts were on it! Email me if you get a chance… 🙂