Can I make brandied peaches like this?

[Little Nemo]

I was out shopping yesterday. I stopped at a farm stand and bought a basket of peaches. I ate a couple but I've really got more than I would normally want to eat.

I know you can put peaches or other fruit in brandy or other spirits. But this is usually a canning operation that I don't want to get into.

Can I just cut up the peaches, put them in a jar with a couple of cinnamon sticks, fill the jar with brandy, and then put it in my fridge for a week or two? Or will the peaches just spoil anyway in my fridge if they're not properly sealed up?

[Leiko]

Great news!

It's a little bit more involved than what you described (there's a simple syrup involved) but I figure that's a bonus- you can cook the cinnamon sticks in the simple syrup to infuse it.

[Gagundathar]

That has worked for me. Clean the peaches thoroughly with hot water.
The wild yeasts on the skin can cause strange things to happen.
I assume that the brandy is of good quality.

I would also add a bit of sugar to the mix.

Good luck. Let me know how it works out.

ETA: heh heh heh crosspost on the simple syrup.

[Little Nemo]

Well, I gave it a shot. It's cooling on my counter now.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe Leiko linked to. The first was scaling down the amount. I also substituted brown sugar in the syrup and added a couple of cinnamon sticks. We'll see how it goes.

Turned out to be a little messy with peach juice and brown sugar syrup spilling on the range. In retrospect, sampling the brandy may have been an error. But I'm willing to go the extra distance for quality control.

[Little Nemo]

Okay, follow-up question.

I made the peaches and they came out pretty good. So I'm thinking of trying something more. I bought some cherries today and I was planning on putting them in some brandy. But then I was thinking "You know what goes good with cherries? Chocolate."

So if I buy a bottle of creme de cacao is it likely to work? Or are they liquors that work and liquors that don't work?

[zoid]

I really need to try this now - thanks for starting this Little Nemo!

[TriPolar]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

So if I buy a bottle of creme de cacao is it likely to work? Or are they liquors that work and liquors that don't work?

Cremes have differing thickeners and sugar content. So maybe something funny will happen like one of the ingredients seperating. But so what? You can adjust on the next batch. You're keeping them in the refrigerator, if you eat them within a week or two you'll be fine.

[Little Nemo]

I did up about half the cherries in brandy. Mainly because I had brandy available, left over from the peaches. I figure I'll pick up some creme de cacao tomorrow and make a batch with that.

I also picked up a kick-ass cherry pitting press that was on sale at the store today so that went well.