Peach Butter with Cardamom and Ginger

    

This recipe is so sexy, I gave the finished product its own photo shoot.

It's a long story, but the basic gist of it is, I was supposed to go to a food swap last weekend, (which I WILL do at some point, and blog about it, so stay tuned) and I had very grand plans to bring lavender peach butter for my first offering. At the grocery store, I searched high and low for fresh or dried lavender (I got so desperate at one point, I was considering buying camomile/lavender tea) but to no avail. 

When faced with the decision of driving another 20 minutes to a different market or changing up the recipe, I chose the latter. I smelled all of the spices in the bulk spice section and eventually decided that cardamom would be the best substitute for the lavender. It's exotic and slightly floral and it turned out to be the perfect complementary spice when paired with the acid in the peaches and lemon.

In the end, this recipe was insanely delicious, but made much less than I needed for the swap. So, it was both a success and a failure. I will absolutely make it again and I would encourage anyone with peaches on hand to try it. 

Peach Butter with Cardamom and Ginger

Recipe makes about 2 1/2 8oz. jars

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs. fresh yellow peaches

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Zest and juice of one large lemon

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Method:

Blanch and peel peaches. This is a super simple technique, but if you've never tried it before, here's a short video how-to that I found very helpful: http://video.about.com/homecooking/How-to-Peel-a-Peach.htm.

Pit and chop the peaches roughly and combine with all other ingredients in pot on the stovetop. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the peach butter clings to the back of a spoon. 

Remove from heat and cool. When the mixture has cooled, run through a food mill or sieve, or blend with a food processor or immersion blender. Package in cute mason jars, or that disposable tupperware stuff, whatever floats your boat. Store in the fridge for about 10 days. Yummy on toast and pancakes, or just eat it out of the jar with a spoon.