Pirate Peaches

An oldie but a goodie, I’ve made this peach rum sauce for three years running and it always disappears quickly. This is the first year, however, that I’ve used The Kraken rum, yet – how could I resist? Not only does it conjure up images of sandy beaches, swaying palms, and swoon-worthy pirates, it happens to be delicious.  Added to peaches and three kinds of unrefined sugar? It’s delectable.

Enjoy it on ice cream, over pound cake or cheesecake. Have a boozy Sunday brunch with crepes, rum-spiked oatmeal, yogurt or Pirate Pancakes. My friend Melissa bakes it over chicken; I imagine it would make an incredible pork tenderloin, or garnish to a rich pumpkin soup.  Really, there’s almost nothing that can’t be made better by Pirate Peaches.  And the best part? You have a perfect excuse to belt out “RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!” in a really cheesy Scottish accent. (And then sing about 1000 verses of “Yo ho ho” until your husband chucks a shoe at your head.) Pirate peaches? You had me at “ahoy.”

Adapted from Peach Rum Sauce in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, J. Kingry & L. Devine, eds.

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Pirate Peaches

INGREDIENTS

• 3 and 1/2 lbs peaches (3 lbs net), peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice)
• 1/2 cup raw sugar (organic turbinado)
• 1/2 cup dark muscovado sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups spiced dark rum (I used The Kraken)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp, packed, minced lemon zest (about 1/2 a small lemon)
• large pinch salt

METHODS

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened to your liking (I simmer mine for about 45 – 60 minutes). Taste and adjust amounts of sugar or rum.
3. Return to a boil, fill hot, sterilized jars to 1/4-inch head space and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yields about 7 cups.

OPTIONS

1. I used the procrastinaty method for this rum sauce; I peeled, pitted and chopped the peaches, and macerated in sugar, in the refrigerator, for about 3 days prior to preparing the sauce.
2. Fruit changes in taste, texture, sugar and acid content over the seasons. Due to the hot, dry summer this year, peaches seem less sweet & juicy than normal, therefore I’ve added a bit more sugar than normal. If you choose to macerate, start with 1/2 or 1 cup of sugar, then adjust during the cooking stage.  (The original Ball recipe calls for 2 cups of brown sugar and 2 cups of granulated to 6 cups of peaches.) Also, it was sort of an accident that I ended up with three different kinds of sugar in the recipe, but I think it adds a complexity that is quite nice. At least, try adding a mix of brown & granulated sugars; but this might just the chance you’ve been looking for to try out some of those fancy sugars at the market.
3. The peaches cook down during the simmering, but there are still small chunks in the finished sauce. If you like a perfectly smooth sauce, blend with an immersion blender before canning.
4. I should note that this is not your grandmother’s rum sauce (unless your grandmother was a pirate; or a rum-pot; or, you know, awesome); there is a lot of rum. Granted some of the alcohol cooks off during the long simmer, but still, the rum flavor is very prevalent. FWIW, I did start originally with 1 cup of rum, but it just didn’t seem piratey enough. 1 and 1/2 cups? Yo ho ho.

STORE

Keep yon rum-soaked peaches down in the galley, in a cool, dark spot, hidden away from the scurvy scrubs, for up to 1 year.

SEASON

It be summer, arrrrr.