Peaches

[sparrowgrass]

I have been eating lovely orchard peaches since the middle of July--my favorite fruit. They are about gone now, but I stopped at the orchard last weekend and bought half a bushel, and. . . . they are awful. Mealy, dry, not much flavor. (Like the ones you buy in the grocery store.)

They only cost $10--should I pitch them out to the chickens, or should I try to salvage them some way? Does anyone think that they would make a decent pie, or jam or something? Maybe with some extra flavoring, like vanilla or ginger?

Or should I just toss them out to the chickens? I know they would enjoy them.

 

[bandonjan]

You can try making peach butter or jam. Sometimes cooking brings out some flavor.

 

[merstar]

Can you return them?

 

[4meandthem]

Try grilling a couple and drizzleing with maple or vanilla syrup.

 

[mollyanne]

My vote is....toss 'em. That "mealy" texture and lack of flavor is probably due to temperatures while in the growth process. "Mealy" texture is what I call "pithy" but when I said that to the grocer, he looked at me like I was swearing with a lisp

He then let me have a taste of the California peaches he had which were grrreat. That's the nicest anyone's been to me there...maybe I should "swear" more often.

 

[bethzaring]

I'd toss them and give your chickens a treat. Food never improves when you put by. If the peaches are awful now, they will be awful after you spend more time and money fooling with them.

 

[zfranca]

Mealy, dry, not much flavor..It appears they were picked before reaching ripeness and kept for sometime in storage. Before giving them to the chickens, try a sauce (not sweet) to go with pork, chicken, or cornish hens.
I hope it works...I have the same problem with mangoes.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I'd toss them and give your chickens a treat. Food never improves when you put by. If the peaches are awful now, they will be awful after you spend more time and money fooling with them.

+1

 

[sparrowgrass]

I peeled them last night--tossed nearly half of them because they were brown and icky. I did find a couple really tasty ones while I was peeling--guess what happened to those?

I found a recipe for peach butter, crockpotted them all night, and they taste pretty good. I did add some citric acid to perk up the flavor, so the butter is quite tart. I haven't canned it yet--I might add some more sugar before I do.

Taste is ok--I don't think I wasted my time. And the chix got all the peelings and brown ones, so they were happy.

 

[vitauta]

I have been eating lovely orchard peaches since the middle of July--my favorite fruit. They are about gone now, but I stopped at the orchard last weekend and bought half a bushel, and. . . . they are awful. Mealy, dry, not much flavor. (Like the ones you buy in the grocery store.)

They only cost $10--should I pitch them out to the chickens, or should I try to salvage them some way? Does anyone think that they would make a decent pie, or jam or something? Maybe with some extra flavoring, like vanilla or ginger?

Or should I just toss them out to the chickens? I know they would enjoy them.

remember this post? peaches are my favorite, too. i've been eating our locally grown peaches (virginia) for about two weeks now--the early varieties. i look forward to a lovely looong peach season of untold fruit gluttony i'm writing to remind everyone to take full advantage of their favorite fruits while they are in season and at their peak of flavor. "september" will be here soon enough with its sorry offerings of it's mealy, tasteless remnants.

 

[babetoo]

had a good peach for a snack a little while ago. i never buy more than two of any fruit, these days. chances of a bad one are better than a good one. two is not to many to throw away. produce buyers for market, need to do a better job.

 

[vitauta]

last week i bought a basket of locally grown peaches, an early variety, known for its juiciness but not for its sweetness. they were so incredibly juicy that i had a difficult time slicing them without releasing large quantities of peach juice into my bowl. my aha moment came when i sprinkled a small amount of splenda over the peaches to add some sweetness. the splenda instantly melted into the peaches and juices, lending such a natural sweetness to the fruit that neither by look nor by taste, would anyone guess a sweetener was used. i then sprinkled the splenda on some beautiful blackberries that were a bit too bitter. wow, the berries absorbed the sweetness of the splenda and transformed into the sweetest and juiciest blackberries of memory. bye-bye sugar, heLLo splenda!

 

[powerplantop]

The local peaches (north Louisiana) have been really good the past few weeks. We have been buying them at the farmers market form a lady who picks them after they are ripe.

 

[babetoo]

last week i bought a basket of locally grown peaches, an early variety, known for its juiciness but not for its sweetness. they were so incredibly juicy that i had a difficult time slicing them without releasing large quantities of peach juice into my bowl. my aha moment came when i sprinkled a small amount of splenda over the peaches to add some sweetness. the splenda instantly melted into the peaches and juices, lending such a natural sweetness to the fruit that neither by look nor by taste, would anyone guess a sweetener was used. i then sprinkled the splenda on some beautiful blackberries that were a bit too bitter. wow, the berries absorbed the sweetness of the splenda and transformed into the sweetest and juiciest blackberries of memory. bye-bye sugar, heLLo splenda!

i am a splenda fan as well. diabetic means very low sugar. splenda does the trick for me.

 

[sparrowgrass]

It is time to drive over to my favorite orchard!! I love the early cling peaches--they have the best flavor, but a very short season.

I actually had some GOOD strawberries last night--from WalMart, of all places. They were very flavorful and not crunchy, like most purchased strawberries. And only 89 cents a box!! Too bad I didn't buy several boxes.

 

[Saphellae]

Right now it's tomatoes and berries, asparagus... oh YUM... Ontario produce from farm stands.. the tomatoes are to die for and I have been having a sliced up tomato with salt and pepper with my breakfest for a few days now!

 

[jabbur]

I recently picked up some peaches and blackberries. I sliced up the peaches, threw in the blackberries and sprinkled the whole thing with sugar. Of the 5 peaches I used, 2 were really ripe and sweet and the other 3 were not. But once they were mixed together and the sugar added, they came alive with peachiness and were so good! Now I want to go back to the market and get some more!

 

[Rocklobster]

I recently picked up some peaches and blackberries. I sliced up the peaches, threw in the blackberries and sprinkled the whole thing with sugar. Of the 5 peaches I used, 2 were really ripe and sweet and the other 3 were not. But once they were mixed together and the sugar added, they came alive with peachiness and were so good! Now I want to go back to the market and get some more!

A squeeze of lemon with that really picks things up also.

 

[vitauta]

Right now it's tomatoes and berries, asparagus... oh YUM... Ontario produce from farm stands.. the tomatoes are to die for and I have been having a sliced up tomato with salt and pepper with my breakfest for a few days now!

you said it, saph! tomatoes. a tomato variety grown in virginia, "hanover" tomatoes, are in season right now. they are like the cadillac of tomatoes here. they are the reddest, juiciest, tastiest, tomatoiest of all tomatoes i have ever had the sublime pleasure of biting into. i too walk around with a tomato and salt shaker in my hand these days, and slice slabs of hanovers for breakfast, et al....

 

[vitauta]

I recently picked up some peaches and blackberries. I sliced up the peaches, threw in the blackberries and sprinkled the whole thing with sugar. Of the 5 peaches I used, 2 were really ripe and sweet and the other 3 were not. But once they were mixed together and the sugar added, they came alive with peachiness and were so good! Now I want to go back to the market and get some more!

yess, more, you need more peaches, cantaloupe, berries, tomatoes--more! this is my mantra for july.... (i'm just sayin')