It's been peach season recently. We had some friends who went to an orchard and brought us a big bag of peaches a couple of weeks ago. (Thank you Ron and Belinda!) I had planned to bake something like a cobbler (that I wouldn't ruin with the wrong flour this time!) that I could share with you. But the peaches were so good, that we ate them all in our cereal or by themselves! Amazing flavor!
This is a photo of the bottom of the bag after we'd had them a few days, so they're a little roughed up. But they're still beautiful!
I may see about heading to the orchard myself to get another bag! It's about an hour away, I think, but well worth the drive. Plus, I'll pass the outlet mall on the way! :) Fresh peaches and shopping. What could be better??
What's your favorite thing to make with peaches? Also, Georgia is known for its peaches. What produce/food is your area known for?
I love peaches, Missy. Last summer I baked some beautiful blueberry peach cakes and tarts. Yum!
ReplyDeleteNY is known for apples, but this isn't the season for them obviously so I can indulge in peaches and strawberries and blueberries.
I LOVE peach pie. Have a fine recipe for it too which I must dig out when the peaches are ready up here. And I think they'd be mighty fine in Ruthy's apple cherry berry cobbled crisp! Only without the cherries and the berries...or maybe with some blueberries added. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI have a peach question for you. Whenever I buy them up here -- yes waaaaay far away from where they grow best -- I have the dickens of a time getting really nice, ripe ones. Usually they are either not ripe (hard as baseballs) or mushed and about ready to mold. Supposedly, if you buy the unripened ones and let them sit on the counter for a spell they will ripen up just fine. However when I do that the peaches have a grainy texture and they taste blah -- nothing like the sweetness a ripe peach should have.
So here's the question: How do you pick a fresh peach that's going to be sweet? I don't know if that's an impossibility where I am except at the end of the summer when we can get Niagara peaches and the time between being picked and transported is much shorter.
I bought peaches from Washington last year - a local guy has a business of trucking produce in. Which tells you how much we grow locally :)
ReplyDeleteI still have some in the freezer - which I need to use before the next shipment comes in next month. I like to eat frozen peaches just shy of being thawed, or I use them in peach cobbler.
Fresh peaches don't make it to baking - they're too good right off the tree.
I know Georgia is known for its peaches, but I have to tell you, there's nothing like a West Michigan peach. Nothing. They're a little tarter than the southern varieties, but...oh man...they are so good...
Here in western South Dakota, garden produce seems to do pretty well, and fruits on a small scale (apples, etc.), but there aren't any large orchards or farms.
Our area is known for beef. Lots of beef. Ranches. Cowboys. Dust. Horses. Wild west.
That's what happens when you have miles and miles of miles and miles of grass, and not a whole lot of rain.
Mary!!!! Just saw that you double finaled in the Duel on the Delta!! CONGRATULATIONS!! A big peach toast to you today!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Missy!
DeleteKav, I don't know what the trick is. I usually just use my nose. I pick some that are slightly soft (not the hard as baseballs as you said), then I smell them. If I can't smell nice sweet peach smell, then I don't buy them. I do the same when picking strawberries and nectarines. I know the guys in my produce department at the grocery where I shop must think I'm crazy. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's part of the problem. Fruits that are grown for commercial shipping are not the same varieties (usually) that are grown for local stores, stands, shopping, etc. Most "shipper" fruits and vegetables are chosen because they have a longer shelf life, but... that means they're supposed to ripen on their own (for fruits) and that doesn't always happen. Also there are viruses that make fruits un-sweet... they rob the 'sugar' right out of them. So they look perfect (many fruits have this happen) but taste blch. And I know this fun stuff because Dave has helped run a grocery store for forty years and we grew fresh fruits and veggies for a roadside stand for ten years or so. I think my kids still kind of hate me for that, LOL!
DeleteI didn't know that, Ruthy! No wonder locally grown is so good!
DeleteJan, I love nearly-thawed peaches, too! I always ate them like that as a kid. We'd got get a bushel and then peel, slice and freeze. That was in Kentucky. There were amazing peaches there. We'd get them at Jackson Orchard.
ReplyDeleteAlso, South Carolina has amazing peaches. I'll have to see if I can ever get hold of a Michigan peach sometime. I bet I'd be slicing and adding sugar, though. LOL
Missy, you're absolutely right about using your nose. I know I've read that advice before for lots of fruits.
ReplyDeleteKav, here's a guide that includes peaches.
http://www.eatingwell.com/blogs/healthy_cooking_blog/how_to_pick_the_5_best_ripe_summer_fruit
What a great guide, Mary! Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to see I've been doing it right. :)
ReplyDeleteTexas peaches rank right up there, too. I love peach cobbler. Preferably warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
ReplyDeleteOkay, now I'm drooling.
I like my peaches just about any way. They're one of my faves.
Im not sure what our state is known for. we have the riverland which has lots of citrus and stone fruits like apricot, peaches, nectarines, The Adelaide hills have lots of apples, strawberries and other berries, and cherries. We have lots of grapevines (although they are for wine) There is also the saltanas, currents etc and then there is olives and almonds.
ReplyDeleteI have an apricot and nectarine tree here. (oh lots of plums too and we tend to get inundated with quinces which no one seems to like)
Jenny, how nice to have your own fruit trees!
ReplyDeleteWe also have a vineyard nearby.
Man, I would love olive trees!
Mindy, you got me hungry just talking about it! Of course, I had my peach fix today at Menchie's! Got peach fro yo. :)
ReplyDelete