German Sweet Pickled Peaches

It's August, so yet another peach recipe from Maryland. Tyson's 1870 recipe called for equal amounts of vinegar and brown sugar, with cinnamon. Marylanders Howard's Peach Chutnee is equal, but Lea's Spiced Peaches used 4:1 sugar to vinegar. As for the German in the title...


Miss Tyson’s The Queen of the Kitchen: a collection of old Maryland receipts, 1870 -

German Sweet Pickled Peaches.
To 1 quart of vinegar put 1 pound of brown sugar down weight, and cinnamon to taste. Boil the sugar, vinegar and cinnamon together and skim it. Throw in the peaches and let them scald for 5 minutes when they are done. Put them in a jar and tie them down.
[I used apple cider vinegar, dark brown sugar and cinnamon]

Many Germans settled in central Maryland and alot of their farms with incredible outbuildings (bake ovens, smokehouses with their original wooden trees, etc.) still exist.

While I can't post any of those pictures (private homes with wonderful owners who have shown me around their structures over the years) here is Schifferstadt in Frederick MD, now a museum, built in 1758 which has many German heritage features: squirrel-tail oven, barrel vaulted basement, original jamb stove, doors, woodwork and a lovely window sink.

By the 1870s, the Delaware area was known for their peaches... even in a 1915 song "When it's peach picking time in Delaware." Orchards on farms and large homes included peaches in addition to apples. John Eager Howard III, grandson of the famed Rev War soldier and Md governor, and nephew and neighbor of cookbook author Jane Howard, had inherited a home and orchard in 1844 which contained one thousand apple and peach trees in 1863. HERE

Peach blog posts - Peach Picking, Peach Houses, Peach Pickles 1774 by Glasse; Howard's Chutnee; Lea's Spiced Peaches; Brandied Peaches; Ice cream; Cobbler... HERE

Mary Tyson and her cookbook blog post HERE

UPCOMING TALKS Deleted


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