Saturday, June 22, 2013

Fuzzy Sunshine

Please bear with me.

It's all stonefruit all the time right now because, when one thinks it is a good idea to plant fruit trees at one's house, one gets whole trees full of fruit. Luckily, one (me, clearly, apparently I'm talking about myself in the third person today) loves all this fruit and is so very happy to have it, but one can run a little low on ideas about what to do with it all.

Apricots:
I have two apricot trees, a Goldkist and a Blenheim. Goldkist begins giving its fruit in late May; Blenheim is finishing its harvest now. Goldkist is a healthy and vigorous tree, and it produces loads of perfect fruit: smooth-cheeked, golden, juicy, delicately and deliciously flavored when allowed to ripen to the point that they fall off their branches into my hand. And then there is the Blenheim, a scraggly tree with blindwood indicative of its growth here, at the edge of its climate tolerance. The Blenheim tree can't compete with Goldkist's ridiculous vigor, but it pours itself into productivity, each meager branch full of freckled, blushed, irregularly colored from pink to orange to chartreuse fruit. They fruit are ugly-sexy to the first degree, and they taste like Goldkists turned to 11.
What I've done with the bounty:

There aren't many apricots left, and the rest I think will end up in my gullet before they hit the kitchen.

Peaches:
I have two peach trees too. There is the drama-queen Eva's Pride, who's just hitting the middle of her harvest, and Mid Pride, the more refined of the two trees, whose harvest is still a few weeks off.
The peach treatment so far:
  • Eat them sliced with toasted oats, blueberries, walnuts, and milk for breakfast and lunch
  • Stand in the middle of the front yard, leaning over to eat them to prevent juice from pouring down the front of me
  • Share them
  • Bourboned Peaches with Vanilla Bean
  • Peach Jam
  • Chipotle-Clove Spiked Oven-roasted Peach Butter (this is a winner of a recipe, but I need to make it again before I share it here)
Still ahead for peaches:
  • Eat loads more
  • Share more
  • Peach-infused bourbon
  • Peach pies (better with Mid Pride than with Eva's Pride; in addition to making pies at harvest, I'll slice a bunch of fruit, toss them with a little sugar, and freeze pie quantities to have when the peaches aren't around)

What else? What would you do if you had all the peaches you could use? What is your peach-y dream? I could use the inspiration, so send ideas my way.

6 comments:

Cynthia said...

Childhood favorite:
-Puree ripe fruit in a blender.
-Freeze in small tupperwares.
-Eat with a spoon.

Gina said...

Grilled peaches! Slice in half, grill, then drizzle with balsamic, grill again to caramelize.

Peach bruchetta. Baguette with sliced or diced peaches on top. A little bit of balsamic, some fresh chevre and broil until it is warm and melty.

Mmmmmm peaches. I am hoping our trees don't suffer the worm infestation they had last year. So far, they look good!

Ottawa Gardener said...

Big stone fruit, oh the joy. I would just sit beneath them and eat considering it is rare to enjoy tree grown fruit here. I have a single peach tree reputed to be extremely bud hardy 'Reliance' - the only kind grown in my chilly winters. It hasn't fruited yet but it's early days. I console myself with maple syrup.

Ottawa Gardener said...

I'd just sit under them and eat but my climate is not kind to peaches. Even so we have one called Reliance though it's early days. I'll console myself with maple syrup. P.S. Sorry if this is a double post.

Anette said...

Freeze some and make smoothie! How lucky you are to be able to grow this in your garden!

Soilman said...

Daily Bellini cocktails to watch the sunset. Better yet: Puree the peaches and freeze it. Then you can make Bellinis all year round.