Brandied Peaches

“Now is the dyspeptic’s time to live well. If a great sufferer let him eat only fruit for breakfast, and peaches with their jackets on. The peach-skin has some quality that is highly useful, in acrid dyspepsia especially… We underrate the nutriment conveyed in fruit… This country is the Paradise for all such sufferers. Nothing strikes a returning traveler from Europe more forcibly than the bounty of our September tables; the affluence of vegetables, the heaped variety of our fruits, the cheapness of both.” – Baltimore Sun, 1883

At the risk of this blog being a little peach-centric (with more to come!), I picked up a big basket of peaches at the Waverly farmer’s market last weekend.

Even with many of us sighing gratefully as the summer heat wanes, it’s hard to resist the temptation to bottle up some souvenirs.  Peaches have been a cherished summer fruit since the earliest days of European settlement on North America. Although the fruit originally hails from Asia, peaches had been introduced to the continent by the Spanish and took to the wild so well that later Europeans assumed they were native.

By the 1700’s, most large homes had peach and apple orchards. Farm hogs often grazed the orchards, consuming excess fruit and insects. The wood provided useful fuel.

According to “Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake“ by Barbara Wells Sarudy: “Colonial secretary William Eddis, writing home to England on September 7, 1772, related that throughout the whole province of Maryland fruit was not only bountiful but excellent in taste… Eddis reported that Maryland peach trees produced fruit of an exquisite flavor.”

The Cultivation of the Peach and the Pear, on the Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula

Every one of my old Maryland cookbooks contains at least one formula for brandying peaches; most 19th century sources have two. There is not much variation in the recipes. Many require the use of lye to peel the peaches. I opted for the old-fashioned (new-fangled?) blanching method. Typically, no spices are added, with the exception of Elizabeth Bond of Charles County who throws in “a few cloves, mace and allspice”.

An 1886 book on peach and pear cultivation named 52 varieties suited to the Delmarva peninsula. “Queen of the Kitchen” Miss M.L. Tyson and Mrs. B.C. Howard both strongly recommend Heath peaches.

In 1872, J.W. Fitz described Heath peaches in “The Southern Apple and Peach Culturist” as “the most superb and delicious of all late Cling-stones… produced in Maryland from a stone brought by Mr. Daniel Heath from the Mediterranean.“

I do not know what kind of peaches I got at the market. They are obviously not Heath as they are free-stone. A 1961 survey by the Maryland State Board of Agriculture gives a view into the type of peaches we are likely to see on the market today, ‘Elberta’ by far the most popular in all regions of the state, with ‘Sunhigh’ tailing behind. Our famous Heath peaches are nowhere to be found on the list.

Brandied Peaches for sale in an early 1900′s newspaper ad

I chose trusty old Calvados (apple brandy) for my peaches. Brandy that was itself made from peaches had been very popular in colonial times, but regional production of peach brandy was on the decline by the late 19th century, when most of my recipes are from.

Peach brandy does figure into some old eggnog and toddy recipes found in “Forgotten Maryland Cocktails.”  The liquid from these canned peaches might make a good substitute in some drinks – omitting some of the sugar that would otherwise be added. But beware, and proceed with caution:

”A good article of brandy which has its own peculiar properties is made from the peach. Now while any brandy in large quantities is bad for a person peach brandy is said on account of the prussic acid it contains to be a very dangerous tipple if indulged in freely. Formerly a considerable quantity was manufactured on the [Delmarva] peninsula but the stringent excise laws of recent years have caused most persons to abandon its manufacture… I advise mortal man to be chary of this beverage. One indulgence is said to make one feel good. The second makes one feel better and the third makes him feel as though he owned the whole Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula. But the next day -the awaking- ah, the awaking, surely instead of owning the whole Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula he finds his possessions… (except his head) shrunken to a size Liliput might spurn.” The Cultivation of the Peach and the Pear, on the Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula, John J. Black 1886