The peaches are best right now at the end of summer and it is tempting to buy a whole case. Of course, that is too much to eat right away for most people. Cooking them in syrup is a nice change.

Boil some water and plunge six ripe  washed peaches for 3 minutes. Remove the peaches and peel them, cut them in half, pit them.  Put the peaches in a pot with  1/2 cup of the boiling broth, 1/4 cup rum, a sprinkle cinnamon, a sprinkle ground anise seeds, the grated zest of half a lemon and a quarter of an orange, 2 tbsp maple syrup. Cook another 5 minutes.

Serve plain, or with vanilla ice-cream as a pêche melba, or with raspberry sherbet with a few leaves of mint, or just on your cereals.

Note: The peaches are ready to freeze or can as well.