“An apple is an excellent thing — until you have tried a peach.”
George du Maurier (1834-1896)
Saturday morning I woke up to find my sweet husband had gone and picked all of my peaches for me. While what he collected was just beautiful, I was furious to discover the deer found my lovely crop and had eaten about a third of the peaches!
The rest are absolutely amazing and so, so delicious!
So I took the remainder of the peaches to make a scrumptious peach salsa. This is Mr. Jones’ most favorite summer treat (he will fight you for a jar!), so just one recipe wouldn’t do. We stopped by a local growers market in Clanton, Alabama over the weekend where I purchased a bushel of sweet freestone peaches! I took half to prepare for freezing for ice cream, pie, and cobbler, but the remainder will make his delightfully sweet and spicy salsa.
Using fresh ingredients from both my garden and the market it didn’t take long to put together this unique treat:
1/2 cup organic white vinegar; 6 cups chopped pitted, peeled peaches; 3/4 cup red onion; 3/4 vidalia onion; 1 1/2 jalapeno pepper; 1/2 red bell pepper; 1/2 green bell pepper; 1/2 cup loosely packed, finely chopped cilantro; 3 Tablespoons local honey (we used honey from my brother-in-law’s bee hives); 1 clove garlic, finely chopped; 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
{I use a lot of organics and locally grown produce in my canning. If I am going to take the time to grow better foods for my family, I am going o preserve them in the best way possible as well!}
**In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar and peaches. Add onions, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, red pepper, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne, bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly.
{Do not cook your peaches until they are mushy. As soon as your mixture boils for about a minute, remove from heat. The mixture will finish cooking in the jars.}
**Ladle hot peach mixture into hot sterilized jars, cleaning the lip of the jars, sealing and process in canner for 15 minutes in boiling water.
Store in the pantry so sunlight doesn’t distort your color. Serve it up with regular tortilla chips, or make your own using flour tortillas and cinnamon. This salsa is divine with grilled chicken or pork. It’s perfect for a sultry summer evening cookout, which is what our plans are for the evening!
Happy Monday Y’all!
Seasons at Rosebriar 
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