berreez ‘n’ peachizz!

The abundance on display at the farmers’ market these days can be so great as to be overwhelming.    Especially the fruit.  All those beautiful berries of many colors, and of course, the pretty peaches!  There’s even apricots and plums if you like that sort of thing. Apples and pears around the corner.  But you can’t just take ‘em home and eat ‘em, except in small amounts for a limited span of time, which I still heartily recommend and practice.  But remember, those pretty red fall red raspberries will be mush and mold in 2 days if you don’t get at ‘em.  So, the challenge is to preserve the bloom of youth for enjoyment in the future.  And we boomers know all about that!  Fortunately, technology shows us the way (at least for the fruit).

My peck of Red Haven seconds had a different fate than my last batch.  This time, most of it was going to peach ice cream, recipe below.  The leftovers when into a sauce.  My post recently on peach clothing preferences garnered many responses preferring peaches clothed (1), some citing how the skins, however fuzzy, imparted more flavor to the peaches.  I still blanched and stripped mine, but saved the skins and pits to be doused in vodka for what I called my “peach grappa”.  I had some this morning after 5 days of stewing and must say, it’s pretty nice.  “Peach grappa, not just for breakfast anymore!”.

But oh, the berries!  We had a plan from the git go.   Julia Child has a simple recipe for a sauce made from raspberries or strawberries, but adaptable to other berries and combinations (2).  We’ve made it several times before, and it’s always been wonderful.  But there’s a lot of sugar in it, and Kathy’s averse to sugar on her low glycemic index nutritional program these days.  She discovered in strawberry shortcake season two summers ago that you could substitute balsamic wine vinegar for most of the sugar in fruit sauces, and I’m here to say it worked (3).    So, we gathered up red raspberries (God they’re expensive!), blackberries, and blueberries while thawing out a quart of strawberries we’d put up a month ago.   After a turn in the Cuisinart, and dump into the Vacu-Seal, we can “taste a little of the summer” preserved.  Did the same treatment with some of the peaches.  I’ll grant that the product isn’t nearly as pretty as the intact fruits, but we love those babies for more than their looks, and this process preserves that inner beauty.

Not quite like Greg Brown’s grandma’s (4) (or mine), as they were canners.   Never took it up, and as an old microbiologist, I’m worried what might be growing in those jars.  Not so with those Vacu-Seals, so we’re good as long as the power holds put.  Sweet dreams.

Recipes:

Peach Ice Cream

quad berry sauce

References

1. Ike B.  “pretty as a peach”.  WordPress 8/21/23. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2023/08/21/pretty-as-a-peach/

2. Child J.  The Way to Cook.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.  p419.  https://www.amazon.com/Way-Cook-Julia-Child/dp/0394532643/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21XBKN6CFWGTO&keywords=the+way+to+cook+julia+child&qid=1693751635&sprefix=the+way+to+cook%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

3. Ike B.  it’s the berries.   WordPress 6/19/21.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2021/06/19/its-the-berries/

4. Canned Goods by Greg Brown.  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-0ZCqga48