Spiced peaches

Description

This is a beautiful condiment to eat with roast ham, hot or cold, and I love it with cheese, too. It makes the kitchen feel like a proper Christmas kitchen - and it's a very easy present to whip up for people too, beautiful in old-fashioned glass jars.

Ingredients

2 x 400g/14oz cans peach halves in syrup (not juice)
1 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 short sticks cinnamon
4cm/1½in piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly into rounds
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp sea salt/kosher salt, or ¼ tsp table salt
¼ tsp whole black peppercorns
3 cloves

Method

1. Empty the cans of peaches with their syrup into a saucepan.
2. Add the vinegar, cinnamon, sliced ginger, chilli flakes, salt, peppercorns and cloves.
3. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for a minute or so, then turn off the heat and leave in the pan to keep warm.
4. Serve the peaches with a hot ham, letting people take a peach half each and some of the spiced juice. Any leftover spiced peaches can be stored in an airtight jar and eaten cold with cold ham.