Mmmm, peaches

Okay, so peaches aren't quite in season here yet. But they will be in a month or so. In the meantime there are some pretty good ones coming up from the U.S. The kids and I are enjoying one right now.

I love fresh peaches. The smell of them takes me back to when my son was about 9 months old and I would peel and finely cut them up to share with him. They were so ripe and juicy that year that we went through quart after quart. I love living in an area rich in tender fruit crops. We can have peaches for supper that were still growing on the tree that morning.

Canned peaches are an abomination. All mushy and sugary. I have frozen my own in a very light syrup, and while the texture still isn't wonderful, at least they aren't so sweet. Don't even get me started on artificial peach flavour or aroma. Peach gelatin? Yuck. And while I love Kiss My Face products, they really got their peach lotion all wrong. It smells of peaches, but also of armpits and cat pee. It's got a pretty nasty funk to it.

Once peach season actually arrives here, and I can get my hands on some freestone beauties, I will make a peaches and cream pie. Edna Staebler has a wonderful recipe for Thick Cream Peach Pie in her Pies and Tarts with Schmecks Appeal (ISBN 0-7710-8283-5. CIP) book. I prefer it with a whole wheat crust, and smaller pieces of peach than she calls for, but otherwise it is a wonderful recipe, if you can get your hands on it. In it she also talks about her friends making peach peel pie. While prepping the fruit for canning, they stew down the peels with some sugar until thick and jammy, and then pour them into a baked pie shell. A little whipped cream certainly couldn't hurt. ;-)


As of right now, strawberry season is just ending and cherry season has begun. Peach season is not far behind (if the heat of summer ever finds us - nearly mid July and still only 22C during the day - not that I mind).