Pickled peaches

Do you like pickled peaches? I have never tasted them myself, but I have heard other folks say they love them.

Pap and Granny have never had them either. One time I asked Pap about pickled peaches, he said “No I never ate pickled peaches and I can’t hardly think they’d be better pickled than not pickled.”

Like Pap I just can’t imagine wanting to pickle a peach, but my curiosity finally got the best of me.

Pickled peaches in appalachia

 

Miss Cindy gifted me with a whole basket full of peaches last week and I decided I’d try my hand at making pickled peaches.

Since I don’t know if we will like them, I only made 3 jars. Three jars that could have been 2 jars since I failed at getting the peaches crammed into the jars.

I used Jim Casada’s recipe-only cutting it way down to the amount of peaches I decided to sacrifice for making something I’ve never tasted before. You can see Jim’s recipe here.

When I open a jar I’ll let you know how the taste test turns out. (*Update: we did not care for the pickled peaches, they weren’t horrible but they just weren’t our thing)

Now you tell me-do you like pickled peaches?

Tipper

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32 Comments

  1. We never made them at home, peaches at our place were frozen, canned or dried. Mama still canned peaches as well as freezing them, as my dad loved canned peaches. I do too. I have had spiced/pickled peaches from the store or that others have made and I love them. I also love those spiced apple rings too. But the family’s favorite was to eat eat peaches was when they were made into dried peach fried pies. I can make Grandma’s filling, but I just can’t get the fried pie crust right. I know Grandma used just a regular pie crust, then shallow fried them in cast iron skillets. She also made peach butter and I love that stuff too!

  2. Our Thanksgiving table would not be complete without pickled peaches. I no longer can anything else, but I still make pickled peaches for the holidays. Perhaps others might like them better if they called the “spiced peaches” instead of pickled peaches.

  3. Yes, I like pickled peaches; Mama used to can them. Not only did we eat them as a dessert, but the juice was good to use after an upset stomach, much the way people use Sprite today. It was a good way to preserve small peaches that would fit into a jar whole.

  4. I can’t recall ever having pickled peaches, but I remember long ago having what was called spiced peaches. I would have no idea how that was made and I doubt it had vinegar in it, but it was wonderful on vanilla ice cream.
    Prayers everyone will have a peaceful, safe and happy week.
    God bless.
    RB
    <><

  5. When we were growing up, everyone pickled peaches, but these are not the peaches that are grown today in the big orchards. The peaches were small hard peaches on a tree that most probably volunteered. There was more peach seed than fruit flesh.
    The spice is mainly clove and that’s what you would taste. My wife wanted some pickled peaches several years ago and had to look very hard to find a grocery that had them. I think the memory was better than the actual peaches.
    I have a peach tree that is loaded in small peaches since the grafted tree died from cold several winters ago. When I was mowing under it last week I thought about pickled peaches.
    Another thought I had was if you had ever made hominy? I started making it several years ago on our stove and made a large batch in a wash pot last fall. I’ll stick with stove top batches. I think I ended up with 5 gallons of hominy when I finished.

  6. I cannot remember the last time I had pickled peaches,, but I don’t remember going crazy over them.. I’m not one for canned peaches, I’ll eat them but not really crazy about them, now you make fried peach pies and look out, I can hurt myself..

  7. I’m in the “what could be better than fresh?” camp when it comes to peaches, but I’ll look forward to hearing your report 🙂

  8. Tipper,
    I just finished a plateful of banana pudding. I make the Instant kind, unlike the cooked style mama made when I was a kid. She fixed a big bowl with egg whites on top, it was good then, but I prefer the Instant style, because it’s made with Cold Milk and it’s creamier to me. I’m about ready for another plate of that stuff…Ken

  9. My Mother made pickled peaches. I refuse to eat anything pickled but can remember eating the pickled peaches and liked them. I can’t wait for you to tell us what you think of them.

  10. Oh my yes, I love pickled and spiced peaches. They are great with ham, yams and cornbread. Our usual snack growing up was peanut butter and jelly or butter sugar bread. Once in awhile there would be leftover ham and biscuits and Mama would put a slice of picked peach on it. And now I want one so much I can taste it.

  11. I have never tried pickled peaches. I am not a fan of any kind of pickles. I am about peaches like I am strawberries. I like them covered with sugar and left to macerate overnight. Then I pour the juice over some crumbled up biscuits. I leave the fruit itself for somebody else. Although not as good, canned peaches will serve the purpose. I can’t imagine pickle juice over biscuits.
    My wife asked me Friday if I could make bread and butter pickles. She and Pearline were going to the produce place and she would get some cucumbers. She came back without any cucumbers. They were $1.98 a lb. She decided she’d just buy some at the store. Last night I went to the store. As I was leaving a man stopped me and asked me if I liked cucumbers. He said he was overrun with them and had been trying to give them away. I told I’d take some. “How many do you want?” “All you want to give me!” He gave me about 10 lbs. Of course, I thanked him but then he thanked me. I asked why he was thanking me. He said I had saved him a lot of trouble. I told him I didn’t need to know any more, thanked him again and left.
    The cukes had been in his truck and smelled like smoke but when I got home I washed them good and left them to soak in the sink overnight. This morning the smell was gone.

  12. Tipper,
    No pickled peaches for me! Day before yesterday I made a Peach Cobbler and almost foundered myself. I think of Pap and Granny opening her canned peaches and Pap fixing Sweet Bread before bedtime. Lately, I’ve been cravin’ that…Ken
    PS: I bet you all were a big hit at Hayesville yesterday evening.

  13. Ive never had pickled peaches.Sounds good though. I’m sure they are much better than sulphured apples.My parents and grandparents loved them.I could barely get im downL
    LG

  14. I don’t believe that I have had pickled peaches, I have had spiced peaches, is that the same thing? I do love peaches. Had one this morning. My baby granddaughter had her first peach while my daughter and her sweet little family were visiting last week. She loved it! She loved my tomatoes too!
    Pam
    scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com

  15. Tipper,
    Yes, my Mother canned pickled peaches. I liked them very much.
    Every thing my Mother made was so good.
    Peggy L.

  16. I have had pickled peaches but is was a long time ago. I thought they were pretty good but they had a very unique taste.
    To me a fresh ripe peach is about as good as it gets.
    Have you ever tried pickled eggs? Now that’s a strange one for sure and not very high on my list.

  17. Pickled peaches were big at our house — but not for me? Why would you take something as good and sweet as a peach and pickle it???

  18. I’m like Miss Cindy. If I have I don’t recall. Pickled was not a usual way to save peaches though in southeastern Ky. And we had no tradition of having peaches of any kind at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
    I did read somewhere once that the Cherokee adopted peaches much more quickly than they did apples. So peaches were growing in advance of whites showing up on the frontier. There is a story that peaches were growing at, or near, the site of Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee in the 1750’s.

  19. I usually try every recipe you post on her, but I think I will pass on this one. The limbs on both my peach trees are on the ground from the weight of the peaches. I am going to be busy in a few weeks!

  20. I never had pickled peaches, but I did make brandied peaches once years ago to go with the Easter ham, and they were good. We froze fresh peaches last summer and ate them through the winter. My husband likes to make curried peaches which are good with pork, and he also made peach cobbler. Sometimes, we just thawed them and ate them with our breakfast.

  21. I have seen pickled peaches, but never tasted them. I agree with Pap: pickled couldn’t be better than unpickled.

  22. My grandmother did peaches every summer. Some were canned plain and some were what she called pickled peaches but I think they were really spiced. I can’t remember them tasting vinegary at all. Once the freezer was an option, the only thing that was canned was green beans. I bought some spiced peaches in the grocery store one time but they of course did not hold a candle to grandma’s. Her secret was she used juicy ripe peaches and a balanced blend of spices that was just right. I could tell that the ones in the store was processed when they were green and hard! And the spice blend was too harsh.
    So yes, I love pickled peaches if they taste like my grandma’s.

  23. My mother and aunts canned pickled peaches when I was young. I didn’t especially like them when we opened a can around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the grown-ups seemed to enjoy them, even if we children did not. As for me, I havd never made home-canned pickled peaches myself. But “putting up” by canning and freezing–those methods I know and used. Peach cobbler made from canned peaches was a favorite we made from canned peaches.

  24. Yes! Pickled peaches have been served at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner all my life. Nothing is more delicious with turkey or ham. For many years, you could buy them canned (although many ladies made their own, which are of course even better), but last year they weren’t in the stores in my town. Your photo makes my mouth water, Tipper! I bet that once your menfolk try them, they will decide that a few peaches should be pickled every year! I tried making a batch out of canned freestone peaches. They tasted OK, but the real thing is better. My son the chef cans little jars of pickled plums every year for gifts and for his own use. They are also delicious. Same recipe — just plums instead of peaches.

  25. I was raised eating and loving Pickled Peaches though I prefer fresh and frozen, We did not have electricity at Needmore so there wasn’t a whole lot of frozen foods. We had a propane Refrigerator so we were limited to what the Freezer on the gas refrigerator would hold. I think you’ll like the Pickled Peaches though it may be an acquired taste.

  26. Tip, I’m pretty sure I’ve had pickled peaches somewhere along the way but I can’t recall whether I liked them or not. The thing about me and peaches is that I love them fresh, When they are available I eat as many as I can then wait till next season when they are ripe.
    I’ve made peach preserves, frozen peaches, and canned peaches, but what I like if fresh raw peaches.
    So, if you’ll excuse me my breakfast of fresh peaches is calling!

  27. Pickled Peaches? Sounds like the answer to a question no one asked. Or the answer to the question “what else is laying around here that we can pickle?”

  28. Tipper,
    Here is another one of those “cowinkydinkys”! We were up at Muddy Pond last Thursday and they had pickled and spiced peaches in their farm store. I told the better half that when I was a kid, Mom used to can them that way and I loved them at Thanksgiving. I never made any my self because the boys just loved plain canned or frozen peaches. At any rate, I couldn’t remember which jar would be closer to Mom’s recipe, but I decided on the spiced peaches. After reading your post and Jim’s recipe, I decided that she may have made both from time to time…I remember smelling vinegar streaming out of the kitchen…but I also don’t remember the pickled sourness, they were more of a spicy flavor. After just now looking at this jar I purchased, there is no vinegar in this jar of peaches, only peaches, sugar, water and spices! Hummm, so I am not sure if I like pickled peaches best or spiced peaches best. I am going to have to buy me a jar of pickled Muddy Pond peaches and try them…No, I don’t can peaches anymore. We freeze any we have left over from a peck of peaches!
    By the way….I love, love home cranked peach ice cream…so good on these hot days…
    I’d like a recipe for a tried and true homemade Black Walnut ice cream recipe! Does any one have one? I will also accept a Buttered Pecan ice cream recipe…ha
    Thanks Tipper,
    PS…the rain came, but still lost some plants to the drought!
    Th

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