If It’s
September, It Must Be Peaches
By Janet Peterson
With the waning of hot summer days and the crispness of fall beginning to fill the air, September signals many good things — back to school and a new year of learning adventures, cooler days and nights, a few leaves turning color, promising brilliant fall foliage, and bounteous harvests of spring-planted garden vegetables and varieties of fruits from one’s own or an orchard’s trees.
September is the time for peaches. Eating tree-ripened peaches is definitely one of the savory highlights of the season.
Lori Nawyn is a native of Brigham City, Utah, where peaches are
a way of life. Brigham City’s Peach Days, begun in 1904, is reported to be the second
oldest continually celebrated harvest festival in the
Lori says, “I was raised in peach country, and peaches and the history of the area are in my blood.” She began experimenting with ways to use peaches beyond putting them in pies and cobblers and recently published Peach 101: Recipes Your Mother Never Told You About. The cookbook — as you guessed it — contains 101 enticing recipes to “enjoy sweet and sassy peaches. Regarded by some as a simpleton — a lowly ingredient in cobblers and pies — the peach makes a break for the bit-time in soups, salads, main dishes, and more!”
Peach
recipes include Harvest Trifle, pumpkin spice cake and pound cake layered
with peach preserves, peaches, and pumpkin/vanilla sauce; Brigham City
Peach Jumble Pie, a medley of peaches and rhubarb with
a creamy topping; Grilled Shrimp and Peaches with Coconut Sauce; Glazed
Peaches and Pork; and Peachy Keen French Toast. Recipe #101, Nature’s
Best, is not one you’ll find in most cookbooks
and is the easiest recipe you’ll find in any cookbook. It’s simply: “1
fresh ripe peach,” with directions to eat right off the tree or to slice
and eat with milk or cream and sugar in a bowl.
However, you eat them, enjoy peaches right now. The next best thing is to preserve some for later eating, whether it’s by freezing peaches, making jam, drying, or bottling them. Even though “putting up” peaches is time-consuming, the flavor of commercially prepared ones just doesn’t compare!
The following recipes are found in Peach 101.
Peach Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
One-third cup peach jam
One-third cup white wine vinegar
One-fourth cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey, warmed
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Combine all ingredients in jar. Chill, shake well, serve.
Peaches and Cream Pie
1 9-inch pie shell
6 fresh ripe peaches, quartered
1 cup cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 and one-half teaspoons vanilla
One-fourth cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 350.
Arrange peach quarters in pie shell. Combine cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Beat 3-5 minutes. Pour on top of peaches. Dot butter on top of cream by teaspoonfuls. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until filling is set and crust is browned.
Susan’s Hot Peach Breakfast
Sliced bananas
Brown sugar to taste
Fresh peach slices
Peach juice
In a single-serve microwaveable baking dish, layer banana, brown sugar, and peach slices. Pour juice over all and microwave on high 30 seconds or until bubbly.
Peach Salsa
1 cup chopped fresh ripe peaches
Three-fourths cup chopped fresh tomatoes
One-half cup sweet red onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Combine peaches, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, green onion, and cilantro. Set aside. In separate bowl, whisk olive oil, lime juice, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Pour over peach mixture and stir gently to combine. Chill. Store in sealed container in refrigerator.
Great on tortilla chips or try with eggs, fish, or chicken!
Peach 101: Recipes Your Mother Never Told You About may be obtained through local bookstores, www.brighamdistributing.com or by calling 1/435/723.6611.