Recipe:Lord Grey's Peaches in Tea Syrup
The 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of Britain in the 1830s, is remembered for a diplomatic gift he received of Chinese black tea flavored with bergamot, a type of citrus.
SAVING THE SEASON reader Tom posted a suggestion the other day to flavor peaches with Earl Grey tea. I took his suggestion last night. Twice in fact.
The first time was for peaches canned in a heavy syrup infused with Earl Grey tea. The tea dyes the syrup pale amber, as if it were brandied. When I was done with that, I stirred up a little batch of jam with tea just to see how it would turn out. In a word—deliciously. I give Tom all due credit for this perfect flavor pairing, but I think it's fitting to name the results after the man whose tea made bergamot a nearly universal flavoring.
This recipe for LORD GREY'S PEACHES IN TEA SYRUP is a little different than the earlier one for PEACHES IN LAVENDER SYRUP in that here I use a hot-pack method, following Ball's basic guidelines. I like the results: there's less shrinkage during the hot-water processing since you briefly boil the peaches before packing them into jars. LORD GREY'S TEA PEACHES is just PEACH JAM, ANOTHER WAY, with the addition of 1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea for 2.5 pounds of peaches. Bundle loose-leaf tea in a double thickness of cheesecloth (or substitute 2 teabags) and throw it in when you add the sugar to the peaches. As is my general preference, this amount of flavoring is just at the "a-ha!" threshold. You can't quite place it at first, except that you know the jam is unusually fragrant and flavorful. Feel free to use more tea if you'd like to render a more vibrant tribute to his Lordship. Next time I might.
LORD GREY'S PEACHES IN TEA SYRUP
3 pounds Elberta peaches
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea (That should be plenty to satisfy his Lordship, since the tea and bergamot flavors diffuse through a syrup more readily than through a jam.)
1 make your syrup: combine sugar and water in a kettle, heat over a moderate flame and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add the tea, either wrapped in a double thickness of damp cheesecloth or as teabags. Continue heating to a boil while you prepare the fruit.
2 peel the peaches: blanch them a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Lift them out and plunge into cold water. (Alternately, I think it's fine to let them cool on the counter but it will take several minutes before you can handle them.) Slip the skins off, then pit and quarter the fruit.
3 once the syrup has come to a boil, introduce a handful of quartered peaches and return the syrup to a boil for 1 minute, turning the fruit over a time or two to insure that it heats evenly.
4 spoon the peaches into hot, clean jars (washed and scalded in boiling water). Try to pack them in snugly without mashing them. I find its useful to add a bit of syrup along with the fruit and then shake the jars to settle the peach slices. Pack to the shoulder of your jar, then top off with syrup leaving a generous 1/2" headspace. Wipe the rim and seal.
5 repeat the process until all your jars are packed and sealed.
6 process jars in a boiling-water bath: 20 minutes for pint jars, 25 minutes for quarts, as per Ball's recommendation.
YIELD
3 pounds peaches yielded 3 pints
(The painting is Claude Monet's Jar of Peaches, 1866.)
Reader Comments (5)
Hi, I've been lurking round here for ages. Love your blog! I have a question though. I want to bottle some fruit (might try this as I love earl grey tea!) but I read in a book that you have to use kilner jars or le parfait jars as they are thicker. What's your opinion on this? Also, could I use the oven method for this recipe as I don't have a pan large enough? Thanks!
sab x
hi sabulous -- there's no reason at all that Ball mason jars wouldn't work -- they are designed for universal applications and they're pretty much all i use.
now as for your second question: by oven method, do you mean trying to pasteurize the filled jars in the oven instead of in a boiling-water bath? if so, I can't recommend that only because I've never heard of it. you can, however, sterilize clean, empty jars in a 250 degree oven -- i usually leave them in for 30 minutes.
but even so, i'd still recommend that after filling and sealing your jars, you subject them to a boiling-water bath.
Ball Company and the USDA both agree that a boiling-water bath is the correct way to process canned goods for long-term, shelf-stable storage. be careful with any method that hasn't been rigorously tested and approved -- food safety is nothing to play around with!
i bet you kind find a large stockpot to use for about $20 -- it would be well worth the investment.
good luck -- and let me know how your canned fruit turns out!
best,
kevin
Thanks for your advice on the jars Kevin! I have a book on preserving where it says you can process bottled fruit in the oven but I'll go with your advice as I want it to be successful. I always find it easier when you can actually ask someone who's done it!
I made the peach jam today but with lady grey tea as that's all we had. It was maybe the best jam I've ever tasted! Thank you so much for these recipes!
(you can read about it on my blog if you feel like it: http://worldofsabulous.blogspot.com/2009/09/one-track-mind.html )
sab x
I'm glad you gave it a shot! It's been our best experiment this year, though I'm also quite partial to the kiwi daquiri (kiwi, lime, and a drop of rum) as well. The Earl Grey infused peach jam just tastes of summer, and it's sister batch got more traditional spicing (cimmamon, frech blade mace, ginger and nutmeg) and just sings of fall instead. eventually we'll have the blog running (in October as my new digital camera arrives the first week), and I'll post a link here if you're interested. We're at over fifty jams/preserves/fruits/pickles this summer so far.
Great Toms must think alike: marmalade is historically the only jam I make regularly, and I love to infuse it with Earl Grey! Which reminds me, Kevin--I think I remember you saying you aren't all that crazy about marmalade. But it's coming. Citrus season is creeping up on us. Ain't a thing you can do about it. It's a train that can't be stopped....