My aunt was called “Nutzie.” One summer she suggested we make some Peach Honey and gave us her recipe that dated from 1850s. The next summer she asked if we had made it. Embarrassingly, we had to say “no.” “Well!” she replied, “Give me some ripe peaches and I’ll go make you a batch.”
A few hours later she returned with several warm, just-filled-jars of a beautiful golden product that looked just like real honey. Everyone who tasted it bought a jar. We began to make it for sale and its reputation grew. Itmade our “pantry-essentials” list and becameour top selling product. Then, a honey salesman from Louisiana whohad money and friends in the Texas Legislaturebecame upset with our not using any bee honey and soon new state law required all products using the word “honey” to have some bee honey in them. Despite there being no “butter” in Apple Butter or Peach Butter, we had to stop calling in by its 150 year-old name. We renamed it Fredericksburg Dessert Sauce, then Peach Syrup, and then Peach Ambrosia. Nothing worked---for the magic of the name was gone. Recently, I decided it was time to bring it back as Peach Honey!
Here it is -- in a nostalgic glass log cabin container!
Email
or call 866-997-8969 to order
Try Peach Honey as a meat sauce with your next steak. Heat and pour over hot waffles and pancakes. Or pour over ice cream straight out of the bottle! (Also delicious poured over peach cobbler or pie!) Everything is better with Peach Honey on it!
Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods, Inc. is the only company making those today in all of the USA, and they are only available at our retail outlet, Fischer & Wieser's Das Peach Haus, in Fredericksburg, Texas. They are made from an old fashioned recipe handed down from my mother, Estella Wieser. When spring came I could not wait to harvest some of the young grapes that the Mustang Grape vines produce shortly after blossoming. (Yes, grapes have flowers.) This was usually around the first of May when the first warm days of spring made it so great to run around out of doors. Unfortunately, I never seemed to gather enough.
The grapes grew wild, on fences around the house and in trees. The vines there made a great canopy providing shade to the area beneath them, and I played for hours underneath them, for there no weeds as they blocked the sunlight and killed the weeds; especially no grass burrs. (We called them stickers back then.) Green grapes need to be harvested shortly after the small clusters first appear. Within days they are about the size of peas. Wait too long -- it is too late! Within days the tiny seeds can harden and cannot be used. Miss this window and it would be a long sad wait until the next spring.\
Green Mustang Grapes - just picked!
After picking the grapes, the chore of cleaning all the stems from the grapes began, for no wooden stem should remain attached. It took hours and my thumbs hurt from rubbing the last little stems from the grapes. When finally finished I loved digging my hands into the grapes, gathering enough to rise up and letting them pour from my clasped hands.
Washing the grapes!
After washing the grapes they were ready for my mom to cook. We had no air-conditioning in those days. She cooked them over a wood fired stove which made the kitchen even hotter than out-of-doors. My mother’s recipe was a simple one. One cup sugar to one cup of grapes. She added no water and no pectin. We still use it today! The grapes provide their own juice as the temperature begins to rise causing the sugar to dissolve.
We use this steamer today to prepare large batches of preserves.
Once a rolling boil was achieved the kettle needed little supervision for the next hour and a half, besides an occasional stir. After the first hour the grapes began to lose their green color and a tinge of reddish purple began to appear in the juice.
Reddish purple tinge forms after the first hour.
After the second hour the mixture had decidedly darkened and the grapes appeared to have shriveled. Now we began to observe the batch very carefully, minute by minute. Today we use a refractometer, an instrument that measures dissolved solids to determine the Brix. We continued to cook until a reading of 65% dissolved solids was reached. My mother had to do it the old fashioned way--by letting some drip from her wooden spoon and observing the last drop to judge if it was thick enough. Next we added a hunk of butter to settle the foam as we turned off the heat. We began filling the jars immediately, capping them with new lids, inverting them for about a minute, righting them again and allowing them to cool. That is all there was to it!
And here they are, all put up and ready to go! (February 5, 2010)
Now the good part--slathering it on buttered toast!
Yum!
The taste of Green Grape Preserves is one of a tangy goodness that you will never forget. We ate it by spreading it over a thick piece of homemade buttered bread cut into bite-size pieces. Then we poured a thick heavy cream, (our own cows) all over. Nothing beats this! Of course, today that would be sinfully delicious, and add many pounds to my weight. Green Grape Preserves--also excellent to use as a condiment accompanying a lamb chop or a fancy rib eye, bone in steak, or just poured generously over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. I promise that there is no other taste like these preserves, and the ones we have at Das Peach Haus taste just like I remember Mamma making them 60 years ago. Come on by Das Peach Haus if you're in Fredericksburg! You can sample, then if you like, buy some to take home! Order by phone at 866-997-8969, or email at
Dietz Fischer, Cooper Dolan, and Kevin Sawyer wait as the solvent heats up.
Fischer & Wieser commands a cadre of very impressive individuals, none more so than our own Dr. Jenny Wieser, Ph. D., Chief Operating Officer, who saw a need for students at Fredericksburg Christian School here in Fredericksburg, Texas to experience a lab situation in their high school chemistry class. Wieser received her Ph. D. in biology (Molecular Genetics) in 1997 from Texas A & M University. During her years in graduate school, she taught freshman and cell biology labs, and as such is uniquely cognizant of the importance of lab experience for high school students before they reach the college or university setting. Commenting on her reason for volunteering to teach the class, Wieser stated, "It's vital to give these students a lab experience, so when they walk into a freshman college or university chemistry or biology lab, they won't feel overwhelmed."
Jenny Wieser explains the correct method needed to read the thermometer while the solvent heats up, after the addition of the solute.
When the school's director, Mrs. Linda Williams, asked Wieser to teach a lab chemistry class, she knew it would be a challenge, working with limited equipment and facilities.That facility turned out to be the test kitchen at Fischer & Wieser's manufacturing site, several miles from the main campus of the school. But, having served in the Peace Corps from 1987-89 in St. Kitts, teaching 5th-9th grade students math, science, geometry, and literature---this was no real impediment.
Recently the students were engaged in an experiment to determine how adding a solvent into a solute alters the boiling point of the solute. The 5 students in the class consist of 2 girls and 3 boys, ranging from freshmen through juniors. The reasons they chose the course vary, but go from "it's required" to "I plan to become an engineer, (major in aeronautical science, major in science), and will need this in college," to "it's fun!...I love science!"
Caitlan Schmidt and Lauren Langehennig look on as Jenny explains safely handling the heated beaker of solvent.
Wieser knows that this Fischer & Wieser test kitchen lab is just a start, and hopes to work with the students this summer to convert a storage shed on the campus into a lab. "We'll need proper lab sinks, fume hoods, gas outlets for bunsen burners, and more, but hope to create a lab set-up that will allow teachers to conduct chemistry labs on the Fredericksburg Christian School site," states Wieser. Fischer & Wieser has donated $4,000 to the school in order to make this goal a reality.
Mrs. Williams stated, "The people at Fischer & Wieser are great! Jenny's efforts have been fantastic for these students, and are very much appreciated!"
Wieser plans to continue teaching these students throughout the summer, with extended lab experiences. "We've managed to cover the required material throughout this semester, in spite of limited resources, and know the students will further benefit from the summer enrichment activities we have planned."
On a recent trip to Mexico, the Fischer family stopped by a Costco. It just so happened that the store was sampling our Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce that day, and Deanna and Simon tasted! Yep! It's just like the Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce that's sold in the US! The Fischers enjoyed seeing our products displayed, sampled and sold in a foreign country.
December 7, 2009: A Day of Dedication and Commemoration
Case is passing on the family tradition of volunteerism - his daughter, Elle, mans the check-in table for events at the Grand Opening.
One of the greatest joys of having our business in our home town is being able to participate in worthwhile community activities. It gives us the opportunity to give back to the community in which we were brought up, and to leave a lasting impression of gratitude for what we have. A very special event occurred here in Fredericksburg on December 7, 2009 involving a community treasure that is very close to our hearts, the National Museum of the Pacific War. Here is some background on this wonderful museum and how I became involved in it.
Case and his eldest son, Dietz, confer after a panel discussion.
The city of Fredericksburg, Texas, is very fortunate to have had a hero born right in its midst, in the form of "Chester William Nimitz, born on 24 February 1885, near a quaint hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas built by his grandfather, Charles Nimitz, a retired sea captain. After attending the Naval Academy, he entered the US Navy, and in December 1941, he was designated as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, where he served throughout WWII.. On 19 December 1944, he was advanced to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral, and on 2 September 1945, was the United States signatory to the surrender terms aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay" (DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER).
Case, his mother, Judy, Elle, Deanna, and Dietz, following a panel discussion of 'The Home Front.'
The people of Fredericksburg, TX are very proud of their hometown heroes, so in 1968, in order to commemorate his services to the United States and his childhood in Fredericksburg, they started a museum at the hotel built by his grandfather - the Nimitz Hotel, which was also a local landmark which the community wanted to preserve. The members of the committee who were forming the museum asked Admiral Nimitz if it would be all right to lend his name to the new institution. He said yes, under the condition that the museum honor all who served in the Pacific War. Little did anyone know at that time, that the Nimitz Museum would one day turn into the National Museum of the Pacific War housing the most comprehensive collection of artifacts and history about the Pacific War in World War II.
Mark Wieser, his sister, Imogene, and Colonel Tom Sledge who participated in the bombing of the bridge over the River Kwai.
Case D. Fischer, then only 4 years old, would grow up with the Nimitz Museum in his life. His father, Boyce Fischer, joined the U.S. Coast Guard right out of high school and was assigned to the USS Admiral CF Hughes. USS Admiral C.F. Hughes was one of eleven Admiral W.S. Benson-Class troop transports manned by the United States Coast Guard during World War II. The Admiral Hughes was one of the more active Coast Guard manned transports. It made several trips to the South Pacific and Europe during its service during combat and non-combat activities of the war. When Case was 14, Boyce worked on the restoration of the outside of the museum building, and Case pitched in to help.
Case learned to love and respect the veterans who serve the United States from his mother and father, and so began a life-long love of helping to preserve the history of those who serve.
Deanna, General Michael W. Hagee, USMC (Ret.), and Case at an event during the reception prior to the Museum Grand Opening.
Today Case sits on the Board of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, which operates the National Museum of the Pacific War and other venues on a 6.5 acre site in downtown Fredericksburg, Texas.
Former President George H. W. Bush and Case greet each other, with Deanna looking on.
Former President George H. W. Bush addresses the over 5,000 participants in the audience at the grand opening of the museum named for him.
On December 7, 2009, the newly expanded George H. W. Bush Gallery was opened and an event of local, state and national significance was held to celebrate the accomplishment. Some of the dignitaries present at the grand opening included former president George H. W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush; Governor of Texas, Rick Perry; Texas Congressman Michael Conaway; Texas Representative Joe Straus III; General James T. Conway, USMC, 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps; General Michael W. Hagee, USMC (Ret.), President & CEO, Admiral Nimitz Foundation; Representative Joe Strauss III; Mayor Jeryl Hoover; Mr. John C. Kerr, Chairman, Admiral Nimitz Foundation; Mr. Mark Wolfe, Executive Director, Texas Historical Commission; Mr. Jon T. Hansen, Chairman, Texas Historical Commission and Thomas E. Alexander, Admiral Nimitz Foundation Director and Texas Historical Commission Commisioner.
Fischer & Wieser Account Manager, Inside Sales, Patricia Evans and WWII Pearl Harbor survivor, Quinton Pyle engrossed in multi-media globe depiction of the Pacific War.
The brand new facility houses over 45,000 artifacts, 31 exhibit areas which include multi-media and theatrical experiences, according to Joe Cavanaugh, Director, National Museum of the Pacific War. "We want the visitor to feel as people did at the time, with no idea of the next battle, much less when or how the war would end. Part of this experience includes physically experiencing the twists and turns of history in a very real sense. The exhibition footprint looks very much like a laboratory maze." (Joe Cavanaugh Director National Museum of the Pacific War - Nimitz Special--Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post, Wednesday, December 2, 2009).
We are very proud of the progress that this museum has made, and are happy that Fischer & Wieser has had the opportunity to help it grow. This is a museum that everyone should make an effort to come and see, and bring their children and grandchildren as well. It is here to educate, and its mission is "To inspire our youth while honoring our heroes."
