Southern Pickled Peaches

Stone fruits are the theme for this week's SummerFest 2010!  I have 12 lbs of strawberries to slice and macerate, two flats of raspberries to process, and 4 lbs of watermelon rind brining, but what could be better than contributing a little bit of heaven to the world wide web.....This recipe has been adapted from Linda Ziedrich's, "The Joy of Pickling".

These peaches are bestsellers at my Farmer's Market stand.  I hope you will enjoy making and eating them too.  These make a wonderful side dish, perfect for your holiday ham and condiment.  You can even use for dessert.

                                                            Pickled Peaches

6 lbs Pitted and Sliced Peaches
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 tsp Allspice Berries
1/2 Tsp whole cloves
2 oz of fresh ginger sliced thinly
3 cups sugar
4 cups cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp citric acid (optional, but helps retain color)

Sterilize nine 16 oz jars your water bath canner per your canning book directions (you might jars left over depending on how tight you pack the peaches).  In a large non-reactive dutch oven, combine the sugar, water, vinegar and all of the spices above, reserving the ginger to place inside your jars.  Bring this mixture up to the boil and then turn down the fire and simmer for 10 minutes or so.   Take out your sterlized jars and layer the sliced peaches with the fresh ginger alternately, press down to get all that you can into the jars as the fruit will shrink up after processing.  Ladle the hot vinegar mixture into each jar, working hard to evenly distribute the spices between the jars.  Process these in the water bath canner for 12 minutes.