I’m back home in Philly after a week out west. I always have grand plans for blog posts while traveling, but the moment I leave home, it becomes nearly impossible to get my brain into the writing game. But now that I’m back, I’m determined to work my way through my lengthy recipe backlog before the seasons change for good.
Today, a very lightly sweetened compote of roasted nectarines. The nectarines caramelize a tiny bit as they cook in the heat of the oven and end up tasting like the pie filling that oozes out during baking. In other words, not bad at all.
You could do this same thing with peaches, though I’d probably peel them first, as I find that peach skins never tenderize, no matter how much you cook them. It is not an issue with nectarines and for that, I am grateful.
The nectarines I used in this recipe were part of the shipment of fruit that the nice people from Washington State Fruit Commission and Sweet Preservation sent out as part of their Canbassador program. Here are the many things I’ve made using their fruit in past years.
- Spiced Nectarine Jam (2015)
- Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Jam (2015)
- Cherry Kompot (2015)
- Sweet Cherry Chutney (2015)
- Slow Cooker Peach Vanilla Butter (2014)
- Low Sugar Spiced Peach Jam (2014)
- Lazy Peach Preserves (2013)
- Honey-Sweetened Peach Chutney (2013)
- Oven-Roasted Nectarine Butter (2012)
- Luisa Weiss’s Spiced Plum Butter (2012)
- Italian Plum Jam with Star Anise (2011)
- Honey-Sweetened Apricot Lavender Butter (2011)
- Apricot-Blackberry Jam (2010)
- Pickled Sweet Cherries (2010)
Honey-Sweetened Roasted Nectarine Compote
Ingredients
- 4 pounds ripe nectarines
- 2/3 cup honey
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Cut the nectarines into quarters and remove pits.
- Lay the nectarine pieces in a large baking dish and add the honey and lemon juice. Gently toss to combine.
- Place the pan in the oven and roast for 35 to 45 minutes, until the fruit is tender. Remove the pan ever 15 minutes or so to stir the fruit. I like to do a bit of mashing as I stir, to help the nectarines break down.
- Once you like the texture of the fruit, remove the pan from the oven. Mash the fruit a bit more, so that the texture is pleasing to you.
- To can, prepare 5 half pint jars. Funnel the finished compote into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Using a bubbling tool, remove any trapped air bubbles. Add another spoonful if necessary, to maintain proper headspace.
- Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- When time is up, remove lid from pot and turn off heat. Let the jars sit in the cooling water for an additional 5-7 minutes to help prevent siphoning.
- Set jars on a folded kitchen towel to cool. Once jars are cool enough to handle, remove rings and test seals.
- Sealed jars can be stored in a cool, dark place and will be good for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
I have a question (I will risk sounding dumb!) For different things how do I determine how much headspace to leave?
Generally, you want to leave between 1/4 and 1/2 inch for things that are being processed in a boiling water bath. The denser the product, the more headspace you want to leave.
This sounds delicious! Nectarines and peaches are the epitome of the taste of summer to me. Now that the weather is finally looking more like summer again than it has over the past two weeks here in the Netherlands, I could use some of that summer taste again before we really go into autumn.
Marisa, Can you tell us what brand & size jars you used in these pictures?
Those are the Kerr wide mouth half pints. They’re made by Ball, so they should be available wherever you buy canning jars.
Found ’em at my neighborhood Ace/True Value Hardware store today. $12.99 for a case of 12!!! Can’t wait to use them. Because they’re short &is quart I think I’ll be able to stack 3 at a time in my asparagus steamer.
Darn typo’s (Or is it Apple’s auto-correct?). Short & SQUAT is what I meant to say…..
What is siphoning?
It is the loss of liquid from the jars, caused by the change in pressure that occurs when you take the jars out of the canner to cool.
This sounds yummy. Could I add raisns and still water bath can? It just sounds like it would taste good with about a half cup of them thrown in.
Raisins are high in acid, so it should be fine.
Why do you remove the rings from your jars? Personal preference or something scientific?
(Forgive me if you’ve been asked this before, I just stumbled across your site and have never seen that before.)
It’s not personal preference, there’s actually a reason. I wrote the explanation here: https://foodinjars.com/2013/10/store-jars-without-rings/
Hi I am wondering can I use creamed honey in this recipe? It seems I have excess creamed honey and not liquid. Also could you add a touch of ground cinnamon or cinnamon stick (and later remove) or other spice while roasting?
Thank you.
As long as the creamed honey is simply whipped and doesn’t have anything added, you can use it. And you can add whatever spices you’d like to this recipe.
Can I do this with nectarines I froze?
This is not an ideal recipe for frozen nectarines.