Nectarines, Nectarines and More Nectarines

by | Aug 27, 2010 | Cooking, Food Preparation | 9 comments

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I ordered 40 pounds of nectarines from Azure Standard this month. When I ordered them, it didn’t sound like very much (I actually thought about ordering 60 pounds). But when I got them and they were staring at me from their good-sized boxes, 40 pounds was more than enough. Then I had to figure out what nectarine recipes to use them all in!

I have only canned conventionally one time when a friend gave me a lesson on peaches last year. It was a full day but seemed quite manageable, so I thought I would have no trouble with canning. Hmmm. My original plan was to can one box and do a combination of fermenting and freezing for the second box. My plans changed.

Here’s the end result of my conventional canning. It took me pretty much all day and I ended up with 4 pints of Spicy Nectarine Butter (recipe in Ball canning book) and a house that was about 400 degrees.
The freezer became my friend that day. I now have about 16 quarts of nectarines in the freezer. When I was more ambitious, I removed the peels on them and laid some out on cookie sheets to freeze so they will be good for smoothies. In the end, I was lucky to get the pits out of them and cut them in half. I also pureed some to put in little 4-ounce containers to freeze for future yogurt flavoring.
I did manage to put up a few ferments. I love doing ferments and have done quite a few in the past, most with good results. I can do a jar or two at a time, and it does not heat up the house. The only drawback to ferments is needing to keep them in cold storage. We do not have a cellar, which would be wonderful for storing ferments.
We do currently have a second fridge that my sister has loaned us, so that is usually where my ferments end up (along with extra eggs and milk and anything that I don’t want the kids to snack on), plus I have a cold closet that is perfect for keeping ferments during the winter months.
I did two jars of Nectarine Chutney. I adapted the recipe for Fruit Chutney in Nourishing Traditions to satisfy the ingredients I had on hand.
Here are four jars of what I hope will become Nectarine Syrup. As a guide, I used the recipe for Raspberry Syrup in Nourishing Traditions. I did two of the jars plain and two spiced. I just put these together yesterday, so they need to sit at room temperature until tomorrow. I did burp the jars a bit ago (to keep them from exploding), and they looked very nice and smelled wonderful.
I saved the peels from the nectarines that I removed and plan to make Nectarine Honey. But my plan is just to make the juice part now and freeze it, and then when the temps are lower and I want the house heated up, I’ll do the water bath canning part.

More Recipes You Might Enjoy:

 

What are your favorite nectarine recipes? Leave a comment below!

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9 Comments

  1. Wardeh
    Wardeh on August 27, 2010 at 4:20 PM

    >400 degrees! I believe it! You poor thing.

    But you didn't do too badly did you? I look forward to hearing how your chutney and syrup are. You really got alot out of those 40 pounds. Mmmm…

    Thanks for sharing what you've done with peaches in the jam blog hop. Great post, Millie!

    Reply
  2. Wardeh
    Wardeh on August 27, 2010 at 4:21 PM

    >Okay, I am sorry I said peaches instead of nectarines. I always mix those 2 up. 😉 Oops!

    Reply
  3. Millie
    Millie on August 27, 2010 at 4:56 PM

    >Thanks Wardeh. Funny thing is I keep calling them peaches too. I even labled the pics as peach jam, peach chutney, and peach syrup. doh.

    Reply
  4. motherhen68
    motherhen68 on August 28, 2010 at 2:56 PM

    >I bought a small bushel of peaches back in june and it took me FOR.EV.ER to pit and peel those things. I just put them in the freezer because I was trying to can a bushel (15lbs) of tomatoes at the same time!

    Reply
  5. Millie
    Millie on August 28, 2010 at 8:15 PM

    >Paula,
    Yeah. I hear ya on that forever thing. Whew. Are yours still in the freezer or have you done something else with them?
    I moved my ferments to cold storage today. I think they turned out lovely.

    Reply
  6. Heather
    Heather on August 30, 2010 at 9:48 AM

    >Next time you try any sort of fruit butter, don't work so hard! The one true way to do fruit butters is in the crock pot! Put the ingredients in, put it on high, leave the lid slightly cockeyed, so moisture can escape, and give it a stir once in awhile. I put it on low & put the cover on properly overnight, just 'cause leaving it the other way while I'm asleep makes me nervous. When your butter is done, jar it up & process the jars.

    Reply
  7. Millie
    Millie on August 30, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    >Heather,
    You are so right. About half way through the boiling process I thought about my crock pot. I've done apple butter that way before and froze it. Next time I will for sure use the crock pot.

    Reply
  8. Sandrine Hahn
    Sandrine Hahn on June 30, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    >Hi Millie, may we use this photo (linked to below) in an educational PowerPoint on Traditional Diets for Sally Fallon Morell of the Weston A. Price Foundation?http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_usxs6JIgswE/THgGBvUcLtI/AAAAAAAABhs/Vx8fe28xGn0/s1600/peachsyrup.jpg

    Most Appreciatively,

    Sandrine Hahn, Director
    Nourishing Our Children

    http://www.nourishingourchildren.org
    info@nourishingourchildren.org
    (415) 820 1474

    Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nourishingourchildren

    Reply
  9. Millie
    Millie on July 5, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    >Sandrine,

    No problem to use the photo. I love what you all are doing!

    Reply

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