I usually choose a tangy citrus preserve to spread on my toast at breakfast, but this aromatic, slightly gentler marmalade makes a lovely start to the day. You can, of course, eat it any time, but it has become one of my morning favorites. The cooking brings out the superb aroma of the fruit; and the variation below, including vanilla, produces an even more sybaritic experience.
MAKES: about 4 cups
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 pounds peaches, roughly chopped
- 3¼ cups sugar
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Place the peaches and their stones in a pan along with 1 cup water. Bring them to simmering point and simmer until the peach pieces are soft.
- Discard the stones and press the flesh through the fine disk of a food mill, or a sieve, to give a purée.
- Put the purée into a preserving pan, add the sugar, warmed if necessary, and stir gently over a low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil until it reaches setting point. Skim if necessary.
- Pour the marmalade into hot, sterilized jars and seal.
VARIATION:
PEACH AND VANILLA MARMALADE
Vanilla adds an unmistakable flavor to this breakfast classic. Peaches are wonderfully fragrant, anyway, and with added vanilla they become positively heavenly. The sticky black seeds scraped from the vanilla bean disperse throughout the preserve. Perfect on toast for breakfast, it’s also an ideal sweet treat for any time of the day.
- Split a vanilla bean lengthwise and add it to the peaches when cooking them with the water, as above.
- Remove the bean before puréeing the fruit and scrape the seeds from the bean pieces, using the sharp point of a knife. Stir the seeds into the peach purée and discard the bean pieces.
- Continue as above.
