More on Mostarda
Notice! Important correction to the ingredients
If you’ve already had all you want, move along, there’s nothing here to see. But I have just started making this year’s mostarda and after some further study I’ve slightly altered the recipe and taken some photos. Clicking on the photos should take you to a full-sized version.
Why post it again? Because this is turning out to be the most requested recipe of all so far. I haven’t served it to anyone who hasn’t just loved it.
This is what it looks like ready to cook. The peaches have been peeled by dunking them into boiling water for 30 seconds and then into a bowl of cold water, after which the skins slip right off. I then remove any imperfection revealed.
Here’s the new recipe:
1.3 kilos (46 ounces) of ripe peaches, which when peeled and stoned will be close to 1 kilo of fruit– cut into chunks
.5 kilo sugar (1 pound)
5 dried red chili peppers (peperoncini) broken in two
1/3 to 1/2 cup of cider vinegar (80-120 ml aceto di mele)
pinch of salt
1 packet of pectin for making jams
Clean and boil at least five sealable canning jars and lids as well as a ladle, tongs and a funnel if you have one. I finally found a wide mouthed funnel, and it’s copper! Lovely. I had always had to make a jury-rigged funnel out of aluminum foil.
Put all the ingredients except the vinegar into a heavy cooking pot with plenty of extra space for boiling, and it will look like the photo above. Stir in the vinegar until it tastes the way you would like it to. I find it depends on the peaches. Very sweet ones need more.
Bring the mixture, stirring all the time, to a boil that is so vigorous that you can’t flatten it by stirring it. Reduce the heat to keep it just at that boiling point, and stir once in a while, for five minutes.
This is the mostarda cooking and just ready to start boiling.
Arrange a clean kitchen towel on a nearby work counter and one by one, remove a sterile jar, drain it, fill it using the funnel and making sure to include a chili, wipe the jar rim with a damp paper towel, and screw the lid on until just closed. When they’re all filled, remove any extra jars from the sterilizing pot and using tongs, put the filled jars into the pot. Boil them for five minutes. Using tongs again, remove the filled jars and with two pot holders, screw the lids down as tight as you can, then leave the jars upside down to cool for a few minutes. Up-right the jars and let them cool completely. You should hear “pop-pop-pop” sounds as the lids seal and form a vacuum. Any that don’t should be refrigerated until use.
Let them sit at least 2 weeks to get the proper flavor and then you can open one, spoon into a dish and drizzle balsamic vinegar over it. Eat with a good aged cheese– aged pecorino is what we like here, but I can’t imagine that any mature cheese wouldn’t be good. It’s eaten with a fork and knife without bread or crackers.
4 comments August 3rd, 2007
