Recipe: Spiced Peaches and Anti-Darkening Treatment (to protect fruit's colors)

This is the same recipe as in the Ball Blue Book:

SPICED PEACHES

8 lbs. small peaches
1 cup sugar
4 cups water
2 cups honey
3 sticks cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp whole allspice
3/4 tsp whole cloves

Wash 3 quart canning jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.

Wash the peaches. Peel by dipping them in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, then plunging them into ice water to cool quickly. Slip off the peel, halve the fruit, then pit and scrape the cavity to remove the red fibers, if desired (these fibers tend to turn brown during storage).

As the peaches are halved, prevent darkening by placing the fruit directly into an anti-darkening solution (see method, below).

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, water and honey in a large pan. Cook until the sugar dissolves.

Drain the peaches. Blanch the peaches one layer at a time in the syrup only until the peaches are heated through, about 3 minutes.

Pack each jar with hot peaches (cavity-side down), leaving 1/2-inch of head space. To each jar, add 1 cinnamon stick, 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice and 1/4 teaspoon whole cloves.

Bring the syrup just to a simmer, then remove from heat and ladle the hot syrup into one jar at a time, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Remove air bubbles by running a flat non-metallic spatula down the sides. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars.

Process in a boiling water canner for 25 minutes (30 minutes at 1,000 to 3,000 feet; 35 minutes at 3,000 to 6,000 feet; 40 minutes at 6,000 to 8,000 feet).

Makes about 3 quarts.

ANTI-DARKENING TREATMENT (to protect fruit's colors):
An easy way to prevent darkening is to slice the fruit directly into water containing 1 teaspoon of ascorbic acid powder per gallon of water. Or crush and dissolve six 500-milligram vitamin C tablets per gallon of water. There are also commercial anti-darkening products on the market; just follow package directions. In any case, it isn't necessary to rinse off the solution before canning or freezing.