Mrs. Hale’s Peach Marmalade (1873)

This brightly flavored peach marmalade is just perfectly sweetened, with a wonderful hint of lemon.

Dear friends ~

The other day, my sweet neighbors from down the road showed up to bestow me with three big boxes full of gorgeous peaches from their trees. Good neighbors really are better than gold, aren’t they? 

Here’s the cool thing. The lovely “gentleman’s farm” they bought a few years ago used to be owned by dear friends of mine who also used to pop by with surprise bounty–including peaches from those same trees. How I mourned when they put that house up for sale…so sad for the loss of such dear neighbors. Who knew the wonderful retired couple that bought it would become cherished friends as well. Life is so often full of the best surprises. 

That lovely load of peaches was just asking to be turned into something special, so I grabbed Mrs. Hale’s 1873 cookbook, and followed her instructions for Peach Marmalade. In case you are wondering, this is the same Sarah Josepha Hale who was editor of Godey’s Lady’ Book, and campaigned so tirelessly for the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. 

Her cook book is one of my favorites from that decade, and this marmalade recipe is a keeper. In my opinion, the generous dose of lemon is what really makes it, brightening the flavor and keeping it from being “just” another jar of jam. 

It’s lovely, and well worth a try, if it’s still peach season where you are!

~ Anna

PEACH MARMALADE
The fruit for this preserve, which is a very delicious one, should be finely flavored, and quite ripe, though perfectly sound. Pare, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, and do not fail to stir it often during the time; draw it from the fire, and mix with it 10 ounces of well-refined sugar, rolled or beaten to powder, for each pound of the peaches; clear it carefully from scum, and boil it briskly for 5 minutes; throw in the strained juice of 1 or 2 goodlemons; continue the boiling for 3 minutes only, and pour out the marmalade. Two minutes after the sugar is stirred to the fruit, add the blanched kernels of part of the peaches. 
​
Peaches, stoned and pared, 4lbs.: three-quarters of an hour. Sugar, 2 ½ lbs.; 2 minutes. Blanched peach-kernels; 3 minutes. Juice of 2 small lemons; 3 minutes. 
Obs.–This jam, like most others, is improved by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it has been partially boiled. Nothing can be finer than its flavor, which would be injured by adding the sugar at first; and a larger proportion renders it cloyingly sweet. Nectarines and peaches mixed, make an admirable preserve.

Sarah Hale’s New Cook Book, 1873

Here’s a photo of the recipe as it appears in the cookbook:

A FEW COOKING NOTES: 

What I absolutely adore about this recipe, is how precise Mrs. Hale was with her timing. Three minutes for this step, two minutes for that step…

In fact, I was so focused on conscientiously adhering to the timing, that I don’t have a single process photo from actually making this marmalade. (Forget the camera, there’s a timer to watch!)

She’s so precise, it doesn’t leave much need for process notes, either, but here are a few of my observations that might help if you give it a go.

Boiling the fruit

Many modern recipes have you add a little liquid of some sort to the fruit when it’s first starting to boil, so that it doesn’t scorch. And many jams call for adding the sugar immediately along with the fruit, which also seems to speed up the process of ending up with enough juiciness in the pot that one doesn’t need to worry about scorching. 

Since this recipe goes straight to boiling the fruit, no sugar added yet, I started the pot over quite low heat until the peaches began to get juicy, and I felt I could slowly increase the temperature, until the whole lovely mass was boiling. It doesn’t take long, but do keep a close eye at the beginning, and stir often, as the instructions say. 

I didn’t start timing the 45 minutes of boil time until it had reached a good boil, and this timing worked well.

Those blanched kernels

This made me think of my grandmother. When I was a child we had a peach tree, and while canning the peaches with my mother, I remember her talking about how “they used to say to put a few peach stones in each jar…” 

I don’t remember much more about it than that, but I do remember her talking about this being how it used to be done. 

The way I went about it was to put a little pot of water on to boil, while the peaches were simmering, and once it was at a full boil, put several handfuls of the peach kernels in to boil. Once they’d started to lighten in color, after a few minutes, I removed them to keep ready until the right moment for adding them.

Putting the fruit through a sieve

I don’t have a strong sieve, but wanted to at least approximate the results of following this step in her “Observe” note, at the end of the recipe. 

To do this, I put the boiled peaches through my old Foley food mill, then returned them to pot to finish boiling. None of the fruit was lost to the food mill, since the peaches were already pitted and peeled before boiling, so the volume stayed the same.

The hot peach pulp was nicely smoothed out after going through the mill, and I can definitely see why this is a step she encouraged, for a nice smooth marmalade.

What about canning this recipe?

The right answer here is that you should only can modern, safety-tested recipes, like those from the Ball Blue Book, and the ​National Center for Home Food Preservation​. 

The long and honest answer is that I did end up canning this marmalade, and here’s why I personally felt comfortable doing that, in this particular case:

The proportion of sugar to peaches is significantly less than the peach jam recipe in my Ball Blue Book, but of course much greater than in the “no sugar” peach jam recipe printed in the same book. The amount of lemon juice in this marmalade recipe is actually greater than the amount added in either of those recipes, which is included to ensure enough acidity for safe canning. Both recipes called for the same canning process–10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. So this 10 minute boiling-water processing is what what I used.

I did remove the peach kernels from the jars I processed for shelf storage, not wanting that to be a variable. For the jars headed straight to my fridge for more immediate enjoyment, I left those lovely peach kernels right in. 

To be clear though, please don’t let me sway you on issues of food safety here, nor encourage you to can a recipe that was written long before modern canning safety standards were established.

How much marmalade does this recipe make?

​I should have written this down immediately, because I gave away several of these jars almost before they’d cooled. I believe this recipe (as she has it written based on 4lbs of peaches), made just a little less than 9 half-pints. Note to self: replace the notepad that belongs in the kitchen.

---

As always, feel free to send me an email anytime, with recipe requests! Cherry cordial and cottage pudding folks…I see you, I’m just a little behind catching up with my replies, but we’ll definitely add those to the list! ‘Til next time, ~ Anna

This post was originally published in the 1800’s Housewife newsletter. Not on the mailing list? You can join here to receive full recipes with cooking notes straight to your inbox!

📖 Recipe