[local eating] Peaches, deconstructed

[magid]

Well, not exactly.

But Sunday, in addition to picking half a bushel of apples, I bought half a bushel of local peaches. Of course, once I got them home, I realized just how deficient my pantry is just now, which meant that I didn't make as many different permutations of things as I had originally intended.

First off, I filled three quart jars with sliced and diced fruit, then filled them with liquor. Two quarts have triple-filtered 100-proof vodka, while the third has gin (I'd run out of vodka). In a week, I'll drain them, then let the fruit sit with sugar for a week, then peach liqueur will happen. I hope the gin works out. [Reminder to self: get more vodka.]


I sliced and diced more peaches to make pickles. They're sweet pickles, with sticks of cinnamon and ground cloves (since I am currently lacking whole cloves). There was enough for eleven pints. That was as much as I could face on Sunday. [Reminder to self: get whole cloves.]


Monday night, I made a batch of peach chutney, adding a bag of cranberries and some apples when I realized I didn't have dried fruit to help the liquid thicken. I used most of the rest of the cider vinegar I'd just bought, and the end of the white vinegar (luckily, I got a couple more gallons of cider vinegar later this week). And I used garlic rather than onions, since I'd just used my last two onions with my fish share. I can fit about four pint jars for canning at once in my large pot + vegetable steamer set-up, so I took the opportunity to add walnuts to the last two pints of chutney (plus the not-enough-for-another-pint-jar chutney I ended up eating as a late-night snack, which helped my sore throat).


Tuesday morning I started a batch of peach jam, starting with just fruit and sugar, no other liquid. I knew I wouldn't have time to finish it, and I wanted something a bit more involved than straight peach jam, so I got some ginger and grated it in last night. I ended up with a pint, five half-pints, and two minis; I would have used more small jars, but all I seem to have around the house are pints. [Reminder to self: get more half-pints and minis, since a pint of jam is pretty much too large.]


Had I the time and focus, other thoughts for peaches included: spiced peach liqueur (vanilla / cinnamon / cloves / hot pepper / ginger / Chinese 5-spice), other flavors of peach jam, dried peaches, baked peach desserts (crumbles, crisps, pies), meat baked with peaches, green salad with tomatoes and peaches.


I think I'm done with peaches for the year.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Let's see...can I place an order for peach pickles, peach chutney and peach jam? :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!

There's always the chance you'll end up with some peachy goodness...

(I've sometimes thought about making food professionally, but (a) I'm not that precise, and (b) the hurdles to get a certified kitchen plus (c) kosher certification is just more than i can consider. A little informal barter here and there seems a lot more feasible :-)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Gin. And peaches.

If that does not turn out, then the universe is truly a cruel and capricious place.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've only had gin once, and I'm not sure how it will work with peaches, really. But it sounded like a worthy experiment :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Btw, the gin and peaches liqueur has been tasted, and deemed quite tasty.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Excellent :)

[cellio]

Now I'm hungry. :-)

Another alcohol that works well with many fruits (I haven't tried peaches specifically) is brandy.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever had brandy. I know (or at least, I think I know) that it requires a hechsher, being aged in wine casks, or having some grape in it, or something, and I don't know that I've ever bothered to locate some, though I adore the idea of brandy (plus snifters. Great word, snifter.)

If I'm aiming for boozy fruit and somewhat fruity booze, it would be easier to go with whatever. For the liqueurs, so far I prefer the vodka, because it's so neutral that the fruit flavors shine through.

[cellio]

Yes, brandy is a wine derivative so requires a hechsher. I wasn't trying to say it's better or anything -- just giving another option. (And this morning I remembered that I have in fact had brandied peaches; I just haven't made them myself.)

"Snifter" is a great word!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Other options are good. I've been focused more on the booze-making side, rather than the boozy-fruit side, if you see what I mean, though I do have a fair bit of boozy fruit to play with at this point (I still have sour cherries and cranberries, and in a few weeks lots of peaches), so suggestions for how to use them are appreciated.

[megmuck.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'll have some apple butter to barter in a week or two. Do you carry peach currency with you at all times?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Alas, I do not have pocketses that allow for peach currency at all times.

Also, kosher rules make bartering for things made in nonkosher kitchens tricky.
(And I have what's left of a half bushel of apples to deal with at this point, too.)

That said, peach products could come your way anyway...

[megmuck.livejournal.com]

Doh! I wasn't thinking of the kosher factor for this kind of stuff. My apologies. Perhaps you could forage in our 120-acre backyard sometime. (There are plenty of mushrooms now, but I can't identify them... yet)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ooh, foraging is fun! Timing may be challenging if my work contract is extended, since we're so close to no useful daylight hours except on the weekends (which are now eaten by holidays until mid-Oct).

(I wish I knew enough to identify mushrooms.)

[megmuck.livejournal.com]

Me too! I keep vowing that this will be the year I'll start going out with the Boston Mycological Society. Um, this isn't the year.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I went on a mushroom walk through Cambridge Adult Ed a couple of years back, and it was fascinating (plus I ended up with a decent chunk of hen of the woods :-).