Nigel Slater’s recipe for peaches, fruit syrup

A recipe to make the most of late summer peaches, though nectarines will work here, too.
Put 180g of caster sugar into a wide, heavy-based saucepan, pour in 600ml of water and bring to the boil. Remove a couple of strips of peel from an orange with a vegetable peeler. Lower the heat and add the orange peel, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tsp of coriander seeds to the saucepan.
Cut 4 peaches in half and take out their stones. With the syrup simmering, lower in the peach halves and let them cook for about 10 minutes, depending on their ripeness. Pierce the peach flesh with a metal skewer to check its progress.
When the peaches are tender, lift them out with a draining spoon and set aside. Turn up the heat and allow the syrup to bubble, letting it reduce to about 200ml. Stir in 4 tbsp of fruit jelly and 3 tbsp of sloe gin and warm until the jelly has melted.
Remove the cinnamon stick and the orange peel and serve the peaches with plenty of syrup. Serves 4. Ready in 1 hour
This is also extremely good served chilled. Let the peaches and syrup cool before refrigerating for at least 4 hours.
The peaches can be used in a trifle, their syrup used to moisten the sponge cake.
Serve the fruit on thick slices of toasted brioche, the syrup used to soak the toast. A thin moat of cream would be good here, too.
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