One of our favorite ways to eat goat's milk cheese like our farmstead soft cheese, Chèvre, is spread over a slice of crusty bread with a spoonful of freshly made conserve or compote. Our hard cheeses like Rocky Butte or Ventana, also go well with conserve on bread or crackers.
When our friend Janet Fletcher recently shared this recipe for peach and pistachio conserve, we had to share it with our fellow cheese-lovers.
Photo by Lori Rice Photography
For background, Janet Fletcher is a Napa-based blogger and creator of Planet Cheese. She actually inspired Ventana, our all-goat version of Cabrillo, which was the special-release cheese featured in our August 2022 Cheese Club shipment. You can read more about Ventana in another blog post here.
Janet originally found the recipe from Roxanne O’Brien, a retired community college culinary instructor, on social media, which she found in a recent special issue on preserving from Better Homes & Gardens.
It's the recipe that keeps on giving...
Like Janet mentions in her Planet Cheese post, this recipe is a "super companion for fresh chèvre or aged goat cheese, Cheddar, Gouda or blue cheese."
Janet also explains in her blog that she cut back on the pistachios (the original recipe calls for 1 cup), boosted the wine vinegar and added the brandy. Below is the adapted recipe from Planet Cheese.
Peach Honey Pistachio Conserve
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Preserving | Makes 6 half pints
- 1/2 cup shelled raw pistachios
- 5 cups peeled, pitted and chopped ripe peaches (about 5 medium peaches)
- 1 cup honey
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup diced dried apricots (1/4-inch dice)
- Ground cardamom to taste
- Brandy to taste (optional)
For serving
- Goat's milk cheese, such as Stepladder Creamery's Chèvre, Ventana, Rocky Butte or Cabrillo
- Sourdough or baguette bread, toasted, cut into slices
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the pistachios until lightly colored, about 8 minutes. (Watch carefully!) Let cool completely, then chop coarsely.
In a 6 to 8 quart heavy pot combine the peaches, honey, water and vinegar. Using a potato masher, slightly crush the peaches. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the sugar and dried apricots. Return to a boil uncovered, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer uncovered until the mixture has a jamlike texture, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. To taste for doneness, spoon a small amount onto a chilled saucer. (I put the saucer in the freezer for a few minutes to chill it.) When the conserve is as thick as you like, remove from the heat and stir in the toasted pistachios, cardamom and brandy, if using.
Refrigerate if you intend to use it within a couple of weeks. For longer keeping, ladle the hot conserve into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Process in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes.
Photo by cottonbro
