Sweet, spicy taste of summer: Peach Habanero Tarragon Butter

Peach Habanero Tarragon Butter adds a lively kick to toasts with goat cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, plain Greek yogurt and more. Recipe below.

I REMEMBER BEING SUSPICIOUS OF APPLE BUTTER AS A KID. We were mostly a margarine family, but I still wondered how you could call something butter if it had no butter in it. And yes, I ate peanut butter pretty much every day, but that was different.

Turns out fruit butters are a legitimate—and delicious—thing. Unlike jellies and jams, fruit butters contain no pectin to thicken them. And unlike preserves, they’re smooth and creamy, not chunky. Essentially, fruit butters are fruit, sugar and any other flavorings you care to add, cooked down and puréed into a spreadable consistency.

The inspiration for this fruit butter came from a couple of places. First, Food & Wine shared an apricot butter online. We love apricots (they figure in a favorite dessert of ours), but the ones we’re seeing are on the pricey side these days. Meanwhile, peaches are abundant, fragrant and affordable in the markets. The habanero came from a delicious strawberry habanero jam from the Johnson Berry Farm in Olympia, Washington. We discovered it at Seattle’s Pike Street Market on our first visit there. On our second visit, a jar of this lovely jam was one of the things we made room for in our carry-on luggage. I added tarragon because I like how nicely herbs and fruit play together.

Easy on the sweetness. Many fruit butter recipes add a cup of sugar for every pound of fruit. More conservative recipes halve that. I went way more conservative, using a scant 1/4-cup of sugar with two pounds of peaches. I wanted to taste peach first, not sugar. I encourage you to start with this ratio. You can always add more sugar as it finishes cooking, if you think it needs it.

Don’t fear the fire. I used a whole habanero pepper, seeds and all, preparing this recipe. When we tasted it as it cooked down, the butter was very spicy, almost frighteningly so. But when we spread it on the little toasts, especially with the goat cheese, the overall effect was calmed way down. If you wish to err on the side of caution, use the entire pepper for the flavor, but only half the seeds and ribs (that’s where the heat lives). We enjoyed the kick of this recipe as is, though.

Go beyond toast. Peach Habanero Tarragon Butter adds lively energy to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Stir some into plain Greek yogurt or a bowl of oatmeal. Toss some with leftover chicken and some mayo for spiced up chicken salad. Top some ice cream with it, possibly along with some chocolate sauce. (But do try the toasts with goat cheese, as shown above—they combined spicy, creamy, crunchy, tangy and savory in a most pleasing way.)

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Peach Habanero Tarragon Butter

Peach Habanero Tarragon Butter adds a lively kick to toasts with goat cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and more.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds firm ripe peaches
• 1 habanero pepper
• 1-1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar or more
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Cut a small x in the bottom of each peach. Doing them one at a time, submerge each peach in the boiling water for 30 seconds, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of iced water for 1 minute. This will make them easy to peel. Using the slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl large enough to hold all the peaches. Drain the saucepan and set aside.
• Peel the peaches with a sharp paring knife, then cut them into eight pieces each, discarding the stones. Finely chop the habanero pepper, using rubber gloves if needed (I did not—I washed my hands thoroughly a couple of times, then applied a little lotion and suffered no burning eyes when I later rubbed my face). As I said above, I included all the seeds and the ribs. Adjust the heat level according to your personal tolerance.
• Return the peaches to the saucepan, along with the habanero, tarragon and water. A mere 1/2 cup of water will not seem like much, but as you cook the peaches, they will release plenty of liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer peach mixture to a food processor and purée until completely smooth. Return to pot and add sugar and lemon juice. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally at first and frequently later to prevent scorching and sticking. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes or longer, until butter reaches desired thickness. One test is dragging a spoon through the butter in the pan; it should leave a trail that closes slowly.
• As it cooks, it will bubble and blorp and leave an impressive pattern of spots all over your stove. To avoid this, I partially covered the saucepan and cooked a little longer, about 50 minutes.
• Transfer to a glass container and let it cool completely. Cover and refrigerate. The peach butter should keep two weeks or more refrigerated.