In Season & Fresh from the Garden, the Fields, the Orchards & the Woods
If you need one reason to can, peaches is it. Perfectly ripe and luscious peaches are as much a treat now as they are when I open a homemade can of peaches in the dark months (or next spring before the first seasonal fruit, strawberries, …
I have been offering small hands-on classes on canning starting about one month ago: we’ve had 3 on peaches, 2 on pickles, and the first class on canning tomatoes is in 10 days, on August 17. There will be more workshops throughout August & September, …
It’s been aging in the dark closet under the stair since July. This morning, finally, it was time for bottling. You do remember the peach liqueur we made, right? YOU did make it, right?, when the peaches were full of flavor and fragrance last summer?
Thanks to the magic of photo editing software I “transformed” one of my pictures of peaches into a “watercolor”, and used it to make pretty labels.
Then looked for an attractive clear bottle – all the better to show the pale color of the liqueur (here a recycled Port bottle), carefully poured the fragrant liqueur from its aging container – and: voila, a fine bottle to sip on new year’s eve – and beyond – with memories redolent of summers past and with hope for summers to come.
Cheers! Happy New Year. May the winter be not too hard (but hard enough to kill the bugs and let the trees be dormant) and may the harvest be good next year.
Note for tLocavore Log: the peaches were immediately local!
(no picture of the salsa…. I know, I know…) Tomatoes however are really wonderful this year. And so are peaches (albeit I don’t grow peaches, several orchards in Rappahannock County have been keeping me happy: I have bought 2 ½ bushels to date). So as …
I promised more peach recipes. If “recipe” is the word to use. You got to do a lot of things – fast – when you got a bushel (close to 60 pounds!) of peaches. Perfectly ripe fruit call for a very simple treatment. Why mess …
The lovely peach originates from China, although as its botanical name (Prunus persica) indicates Europeans thought – in the 18th century – that it came from Persia. Peaches seemed to have been introduced to Southern Europe via the Silk Road in Antiquity. They were brought by the Spaniards to the Americas where adopted by a number of Indian tribes at least in North America. A Wikipedia map shows that peaches are also cultivated in the temperate areas of South America.
Their adoption by many peoples is no wonder as a ripe peach is a gift from God. I certainly thought so this week-end as I was going through the bushel of peaches I bought Friday – almost dizzy with their heady scent. It was hot this week-end, so I wanted to minimize cooking indoor. One perfect way to use those fragrant sun-charged wonders is to make Peach Sorbet. Continue reading Very Cool Peaches
This is going to be a good summer for peaches. Two local orchards I already hit had early peaches in the 2nd week of July. A third said the rain was having them push harvesting by a few days, but that peaches should be coming …