Peaches Foster, Camp Version
Dried peaches simmered back to life in brown sugar, butter, and rum. Ice cream is not invited.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 140
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 150 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried peach halves or slices | 1 1/2 cups | unsulfured slices rehydrate faster than halves |
|---|---|---|
| Brown sugar | 1/3 cup | packed |
| Butter | 2 tbsp | ghee if it will be warm out |
| Dark rum | 2 oz | Goslings Gold Seal if you are being faithful about it |
| Citric acid or lemon powder | 1/4 tsp | stands in for the fresh lemon juice |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Powdered milk or coconut milk powder | 3 tbsp | optional, for the sauce |
Method
- Put the dried peaches in your pot with 150 ml of water and the citric acid. Let them sit ten minutes off the heat while you eat dinner.
- Bring the pot to a simmer on low. The peaches should soften in about five minutes. Pour off any water that is still loose.
- Push the fruit to one side, drop in the butter and brown sugar, and stir until they melt into a syrup. Keep the flame low or the sugar scorches.
- Add the rum and simmer two more minutes, spooning syrup over the fruit. Do not light it. There is nothing out here worth setting on fire.
- Kill the heat. If you want the sauce thick, stir the milk powder into the syrup off the flame.
- Eat straight from the pot with two spoons.
This started as bananas Foster made with peaches, cooked in a skillet and served over ice cream. Two of those things do not survive a trailhead. Dried fruit replaces fresh because it weighs a quarter as much and cannot bruise in a pack, and citric acid replaces the lemon because a lemon is mostly water you are already carrying.
The soak matters more than the simmer. Dried peaches that go straight into hot syrup stay leathery in the middle, so give them cold water and ten idle minutes first. The sugar goes in after the fruit is soft, not before, because sugar syrup pulls water back out of the fruit. Skip the ice cream and let the sauce be the rich part: butter, brown sugar, and a little milk powder get you close enough.
Packing
Brown sugar, citric acid, salt, and milk powder go in one small bag; peaches in another. Butter travels in a screw-top jar. Rum in a flask, decanted at home.
Variations
- Dried apples or pears work the same way and cost less.
- Skip the rum and use a splash of strong coffee. You still get the bitter edge against the sugar.
- Spoon it over instant vanilla pudding made with cold water for something closer to the original.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/dessert-to-go-with-game-dinner.364