Peachy Keen

Yay, Peaches!

Last summer, Booty Family Farm produced a bumper crop of corn. Oh, my heavens, so snappy-sweet delicious!  This summer, raccoons and bears have been helping themselves to the delectable ears (booo!), but the fruit trees have been virtually left alone, which means a peach palooza. Who knew peaches could thrive in such Northern climes? (Arg! Probably global warming.)

As a result, all three houses on the farm — Decker Booty, Bartlett, and Horn — have been peach processing like crazy. The fruit has been canned, jammed, and frozen, and just yesterday a bleary-eyed Stephen told me that he was resorting to simply throwing the peaches into a food mill, grinding them up, and freezing them for whatever use we come up with in the winter. (I’m assuming he pitted them first, but the lovely fuzzy skins are in the mash.)

Just one branch!

Matt sorting and grading

A lot of work and care goes into getting the peaches from the tree to my kitchen (as is true for all the produce that comes from the farm), including the acrobatic picking to the carrying, grading, and sorting.(I’m quite sure my peaches were overachievers — no failing grades.) The peaches are picked ripe and are therefore tender and must be handled like baby birds. No tossing them about willy nilly. (That would be a lot of baby birds. Hmmm… Maybe there’s a better analogy.)

Peaches for jam

I started by making Jalapeño-Peach Jam, which is scrumptious atop goat cheese or cream cheese on a cracker. Then I made a gorgeous, golden peach butter, my favorite english muffin topping. (Serve for breakfast with a fresh Booty Farm egg and go straight to heaven.) Next was peaches in a light syrup to adorn my yogurt in the winter (squeal of delight), and finally some slices frozen for a peach-blueberry crumble. Pass the ice cream, please.

peach butter, jam, canned slices in light syrup

Aunt Jane’s Cooking School has started a new year, and now- six-year-old Elsa is a first grader and a master mini-chef. We made a peach-berry upside down cake that was the bomb! (The cake included a tablespoon of Booty Farm corn meal, adding a subtle, delightful crunch.) Here’s a photo of the topping before the cake batter was added. Ooo-La-La, now that’s eye candy!

Invoice for peaches and salsa ingredients!

I also canned salsa again this year. Stephen continues to indulge me with a variety of hot peppers. I stuffed a couple of gorgeous poblanos for our supper last night, and the jalapeños are coming on strong. I used a boatload of serranos in my salsa this year — green and red — which means it’s a nice hot batch. Zowie! Some Hungarian Wax Peppers found their way into my jam. You can see one of those light green beauties next to the limes in the photo above. (Read more about salsa making in last fall’s post, “Canning.”)

And if there’s any doubt that this is a small operation (call it “boutique”) and not mass agri-business, take a look at the invoice written on a strip of cardboard. Case closed with a sigh of contentment and a smile.