Brandied Peaches Recipe (2024)

Three cups is too much water for three pounds of peaches. Maybe a cup and a half would work better next time. They are delicious, just too wet.

First made these when the article was originally published in the NYT magazine. Delicious! Agree with Will - no need for the amount of sugar/water called for. Added the brandy first and there was very little room left for the syrup after that.

One minute is way too long to blanch the peaches. Makes them turn dark on edges.

I am so glad to find this recipe, excited to crack them open come the first snowy day and feel summer’s warmth again. Having canned peaches before, I just packed my peaches tightly into the hot jars without “cooking them in the syrup till soft”, then divided up the brandy first, then topped with syrup. My 3# of peaches equaled four pints, not 2.

Drain the peaches before you put them into the jars.
This will allow them to cool slightly, releasing their juices. When you put the drained peaches into the jars you'll have room for the syrup/brandy mixture.

I made 25 lbs of just-ripe peaches using this recipe. I don’t know if it was my method of packing, but I ended up with jars 1/2 full of syrup and brandy, 1/2 full of peaches. Delicious, but a lot of fluid - I let the peaches drain before packing but they still gave off a lot of fluid. I also ended up with excess syrup having scaled up the recipe. Next time (next year) I’ll use slightly less ripe peaches which will be easier to handle and peel and may give up less fluid.

1/2 or less of the sugar water written is plenty. It also doesn’t make sense to soften the peaches in the sugar water before processing 10 min plus the boiling time either.

Using a serrated vegetable peeler to avoid balancing (to remove skins) solves the problem of wet peaches.

Do you have to can these or can you do like in Melissa’s recipe for brandied cherries?…. Just cool in saucepan and refrigerate two days and up to a few months? If not eaten sooner?

Question: this recipe calls for leaving a 1/4" in headspace--what if I am using a pressure canner, can I still leave 1/4" of headspace in the jars, even though the instruction manual for the pressure canner calls for leaving 1/2" of headspace?Thanks veteran canners, in advance!

Tried this for the first time ever canning anything. I can hear the jars sealing one by one. Bought a bushel of late summer peaches and want to keep some around. I have a recipe for a cold salad made with brandied peaches, apricot jello, and chutney, topped with a dollop of horseradish/dijon dressing. Yummy with ham or turkey. Haven’t made it in years because I’ve never seen brandied peaches for sale anywhere - used to get them from my mother-in-law. So, keeping my fingers crossed

The notes below were super helpful - use a 1-1 mixture of water and sugar and drain the peaches after blanching, in particular. One contribution of my own: use the leftover syrup to boil down until thick enough to drizzle over ice cream. Or reduce it further and make an amazing chewing confection out of it.

I am so glad to find this recipe, excited to crack them open come the first snowy day and feel summer’s warmth again. Having canned peaches before, I just packed my peaches tightly into the hot jars without “cooking them in the syrup till soft”, then divided up the brandy first, then topped with syrup. My 3# of peaches equaled four pints, not 2.

I put the brandy in the syrup and used a full cup. Wonderful recipe.

I wanted to double the recipe; after reading other comments I doubled the peaches (6 pounds), but did not double the water (used 3 cups) and cut the sugar in half (1.5 cups). According to the recipe this should have produced 4 pints, but it was enough for 7 pints. I added 1/4 brandy to each pint. I drained the peaches after cooking, but captured the water and I needed it when I filled the jars. Very delicious served on top of vanilla ice cream

This is the first time I've had a problem with the jars not sealing after they cool from the water bath. I also had way too much liquid left so I added the brandy directly to the jars and topped with the syrup. I had extra jars sterilized so I canned the remainder of the hot syrup (without the brandy). Once they processed for 20 minutes and cooled, only the syrup jars had sealed. Has anyone else had this problem? I imagine it's due to the alcohol. Oh well, I'll just store the jars in the fridge

One minute is way too long to blanch the peaches. Makes them turn dark on edges.

I made 25 lbs of just-ripe peaches using this recipe. I don’t know if it was my method of packing, but I ended up with jars 1/2 full of syrup and brandy, 1/2 full of peaches. Delicious, but a lot of fluid - I let the peaches drain before packing but they still gave off a lot of fluid. I also ended up with excess syrup having scaled up the recipe. Next time (next year) I’ll use slightly less ripe peaches which will be easier to handle and peel and may give up less fluid.

do you think this would work just as well with bourbon instead of brandy?

Save the leftover peach syrup in small jars. I freeze it and use the syrup in iced tea and even soups.

First made these when the article was originally published in the NYT magazine. Delicious! Agree with Will - no need for the amount of sugar/water called for. Added the brandy first and there was very little room left for the syrup after that.