The best peach or nectarine BBQ sauce recipe

I was recently gifted about 50 pounds of nectarines and wanted to come up with several items to make.  One of the items was a nectarine/peach BBQ sauce.  I've made it in the past with peaches, but truth be told, I wasn't crazy about it, so I knew some major changes were needed.

Nectarines and peaches are interchangeable in most recipes.  The main difference is that peaches have skins that are usually peeled and nectarine peels are usually not removed.

I also wanted to be able to can this, but if you do not know how to can, you can keep it in the fridge for a week or so, or even freeze it.  This version is so delicious, and would make a perfect sauce for chicken or pork and I am sure it will not last long in your home. 

The recipe I initially saw that gave me the idea, used canned baby food, but I already had nectarine puree made so I used that instead.  If you do not have nectarine puree, it's easy to make.  Just cook down nectarines in either a crockpot or on the stovetop.  Nectarines do not have to be peeled...peaches do.  You can see exactly how I put mine into a crockpot.  All I had to do was wash them.  I leave the pits in and just strain them out when the fruit is cooked down.  It will not be pretty, but it has many uses.  I personally left my puree a little chunky as you can see.  Then, for recipes where I wanted it smooth, I just blended it until it became smooth.  This works in recipes sort of like using mashed bananas does.  Only it's not as sweet.

Whole nectarines put in a crockpot

Nectarine puree -- still chunky

We already posted a recipe for nectarine cake/bread using this puree, but now on to the BBQ sauce recipe.

Nectarine (or peach) BBQ Sauce

Makes about 4 pints

 

·       2 tbsp vegetable oil

·       1 large onion, such diced

·       8 large garlic cloves, minced

·       4 cups nectarine or peaches puree

·       ¼ cup + 1 tbsp bottled lemon juice

·       1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

·       ¼ cup dark Karo syrup (optional)

·       1 cup apple cider vinegar

·       ½ cup water

·       1 cup Worcestershire sauce

·       ¼ cup tomato paste

·       2 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger

·       3 tbsp chili powder

·       1 tsp smoked paprika

·       2 tsp onion powder

·       1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

·       Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste  

Prepare 4 one pint canning jars and lids, if canning this recipe. 

Add oil to a large nonreactive Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender.  This will take about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  

Stir in the nectarine or peach puree, lemon juice, brown sugar, Karo syrup, if using, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Note: If your nectarines are not sweet, you can add some additional sugar.  I even added some Stevia in one batch to keep the calories down a little; however, one batch did not need any additional sweetener. 

 

Finished BBQ sauce

Working in batches, transfer the nectarine/peach mixture to a blender, food processor  or vitamix and puree until smooth. Pour back into the same saucepan.  Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, ginger, chili powder, smoked paprika, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until hot, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  This is what it looks like when its ready.  It's thick and I left an itty bitty amount of chunkiness in mine.  You can make yours completely smooth if you desire.

If canning, fill jars leaving ¼” headspace.  Remove air pockets from the jars, wipe rims, add fresh lids and place rings fingertip tight.  Process in a waterbath canner for 10 minutes at sea level and adjust for altitude.  I have been using a steam canner lately and love it.  They work exactly the same as a waterbath, so if you have a steam canner, feel free to use it. 

If you are not familiar with how to do waterbath canning, please see http://www.freshpreserving.com/canning-101-getting-started.html .  The instructions given here assume you already know how to can.  Not following exact instructions can cause you to become very ill or even kill you.

 

If you choose not to can this, put it in small containers in either the fridge or freezer to use as desired.

 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did. 

 

Oh, do not throw out the pits once the fruit is removed.  It makes a great peach pit liqueur, peach vinegar or even peach extract.

Fabulous watermelon martini recipe

A few years ago, I was looking for something to do with an extra watermelon I purchased.  I looked around the internet and found something that looked pretty good.  While I made a few changes to the recipe, it's pretty close to the original...and boy, is it good.

Sorry, I do not have photos of this...we enjoyed them before we had a chance to take any.  They will look beautiful in a martini glass and have that pretty pinkish red color like a cosmopolitan does.  Here's the recipe:

Watermelon Martini 

·        1 cup watermelon juice

·        1/4 cup vodka

·        1/4 cup watermelon schnapps

·        2 tablespoons simple syrup

·        1 lime, juiced

Directions

To make watermelon juice, remove the meat from the shell and put it in a food processor, blender or Vitamix.  Blend until very smooth.
     
  Pour the watermelon juice, vodka, watermelon schnapps, simple syrup, (recipe below) and lime juice into a cocktail shaker over ice. Cover, and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted. Strain into the chilled glasses. 

To make simple syrup, put equal parts of granulated sugar and water in a saucepan.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Boil until sugar is completely dissolved.  Cool syrup.  This may be stored in the refrigerator covered, for about a week.

I make several cups at a time since this is great mixed into iced tea or anywhere you want sugar to be nicely dissolved.

 

Today's Kitchen Tip: How to tell if strawberries are ripe

Strawberries are just coming into season in Phoenix as evidenced by the sale prices we've been finding lately.  They will be available a little later in other parts of the country.  I love luscious sweet strawberries but hate when I get them home and they taste like....nothing. 

We have a great way to tell if they are ripe.  For the details, see how to tell if strawberries are ripe and flavorful. 

Can you really make liqueur out of peach pits? Yes, you can!

Peach Pit Liqueur after
it has 'done it's thing'

I recently received about 40 pounds of peaches from a friend and spent days preparing everything peaches.  I had a ton of peach pits and wanted to know what to do with them.  I found that they do have their uses.  In this case, they were being turned into peach liqueur.

How do you make peach liqueur, you ask?  It's easy.  A friend gave me this recipe and I'm in the process of making some right now.  Here's what you do:

Peach Pit Liqueur

1 pint peach pits

3 cups 80 proof vodka
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground or whole coriander seed

Pour vodka and water over peach pits and infuse in the sun for 6 weeks. 

 

Take 1 cup pits crush (hammer works well) and return to jar and infused for another 2 weeks. (Note that this was really difficult so we crushed a few and left the rest whole.)

 

Strain and add sugar and spices.  Leave in a cool dark place for another several weeks... its a slow to meld liqueur but worth the wait.

 

(at the time of writing this tip---) Mine is two weeks into the process right now so we'll have to wait to see how it turns out.  It is supposed to taste like amaretto so I see holiday gifts coming.



Peach Pit Liqueur --
ready for gifting

After the time was up (and just in time for the holidays), we got the most incredible liqueur.  This is one of the flasks that will be given as gifts.  Not only will this be wonderful over ice, but it's a nice thing to drizzle over some vanilla ice cream.

One last thing...on the bottom of the initial jar used to create this concoction, there was a small layer of peach infused sugar.  I didn't notice it until after I poured off the liqueur.  I decided to take the sugar and turn it into a drizzle for pancakes.  You just have to try that.

 

What can you do with corn cobs after the corn is removed?

It's that time of year where fresh corn is at its best and this is the time of year where it's really affordable.    Corn on the cob is so much more than just corn.  The cob has some great uses, too.

So once you've removed the corn from the cob, what do you do with the cob?  There are lots of things  I like to do with them.  My favorite way to use them is to place the cobs in a saucepan.  Cover the cobs with water and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer the cobs for about 45 minutes.  Remove the cobs and you have a great corn stock.  So what do you do with the corn stock?  Well, this time, I'm going to use it to make soup.  I love to make tortilla soup and using the corn stock is a great way to add lots of corn flavor to the soup.

And you thought that corn cobs were just a waste.