Homemade Fruit Juice: Peach +6M

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One of my memories of my summer childhood is related to a special treat that came in a glass jar: the fruit juice!!

Smooth, velvety, almost creamy, made from fresh fruit, cold. My mom used to offer it as afternoon snack and I simply loved it. Being the fruit juice made from the pulp of fresh fruit and not filtered, it also contains a nice amount of fiber.

I wanted to recreate this special texture and flavor for my kids, so I prepared an homemade version of the Summer Fruit Juice using peaches. Three positive things about the homemade juice:

1. You can select the sweetest seasonal fruit available, organic if possible.
2. You can adjust the sweetness level and even decide to skip added sugars.
3. You can prepare as much as you like, it only takes 15min!!

Peaches are simply at the top of the season now. So many varieties, all super sweet and juicy. I went for a mix of donut and white peaches, our favorites.

The recipe is very simple. You will need fresh sweet seasonal fruit, peaches in my case, water, a squeeze of lemon juice and some maple syrup. That’s it! Also, to store the fruit juice I usually use glass containers like mason jars. They come with a lid, so it’s easier to store 🙂

Let’s start peeling the peaches and chopping them in pieces.

In a large saucepan add the water and the maple syrup. Turn the heat on at medium and let the sugar melt with the water.

When you see the first bubbles forming onto the surface, add the peaches and the lemon juice. Let it simmer for 4 minutes stirring occasionally.

Turn the heat off and transform everything in a smooth velvety puree’ with an immersion blender. You can always use a food processor or blender but if the container is in plastic, just wait up until the fruit juice has cooled down a bit. Transfer the fruit juice in a mason jar, close with a lid and store in the refrigerator for 4/5 days. Enjoy the peach fruit juice cold, it’s the best!

CAN I USE A DIFFERENT KIND OF FRUIT?

I opted for peaches as they taste gorgeously from the Farmer’s Market. You can switch peaches with pears, apricots, plums, mango, papaya. You want to use a juicy, sweet fruit with a creamy pulp.

HOW CAN I STORE THE FRUIT JUICE?

You have few options. In the refrigerator in a glass bottle (I use large mason jars) for up to 4/5 days.

In the freezer (in a freezer safe container) for up to 3 months. You can also use ice trays for smaller portions. You can simply pop up the quantity of cubes you will need in a glass and let them melt.

In the pantry for up to three months. In this case you will need to store the peach juice in mason jars, close the jars with the lid and boil them in a big pot with water, top down and placing a kitchen towel at the bottom. Boil them for 20 minutes. Remove from the pot, let them cool down completely always top down and than store in the pantry.

CAN I PREPARE POPSICLES WITH THE JUICE?

You can transform some of the peach fruit juice into lovely popsicles!! If you want to add more texture you can drop into the popsicle mold some pieces of fresh fruit like raspberries, strawberries or blueberries.

CAN I TOTALLY SKIP ADDED SUGAR?

I added 1/2 cup maple syrup to the recipe and a squeeze of lemon. These ingredients to be sincere are not optionals: they are needed to preserve the fruit juice. At the same time I tried to balance with the minimum amount of added sugar to keep the level low and at the same time to assure a longer fridge life to the juice. Balance is the key!