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A Basket of Peaches and All the Right Recipes
Published about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
A ripe peach is a short-lived thing. It is rock hard at the store, then perfect for about a day and a half, then it is jam whether you planned on jam or not. I bought a basket anyway, because a good July peach is one of the few foods I will rearrange a week around. Use them at the right moment and a basket goes a long way. The firm ones go into something that cooks. The dead-ripe ones, the ones that drip down your wrist, you eat over the sink or fold raw into a salad before the basket turns. A basket on the counter gives you maybe three days, start to finish. Cook them in order of ripeness and none of it goes to waste.
In Order of Ripeness
Ripen them on the counter, never the fridge. Cold kills a peach's texture and stops it ripening. Stem-side down on the counter, out of the sun.
Smell the stem end to judge ripeness. A ripe peach smells like a peach at the stem. If it smells like nothing, it tastes like nothing.
Cook the firm ones, eat the soft ones raw. Firmer fruit holds its shape in a pie or on the grill; the dead-ripe ones are for salads, drinks, and eating plain.
A pinch of salt makes a peach taste more like itself. The same move as salting watermelon. It pushes the sweetness forward.
Catch the last ones in a jar. When the basket is going faster than you can eat it, jam. The full run, raw to cooked to jarred, is below.
Peach season is fleeting, but this fresh peach pie is so delicious that you should slip it into your summer any way you can. Fresh peaches, a hint of cinnamon, and a tender vinegar pie crust takes advatage of those gorgeous stone-fruits.
Martha Stewart's peach pie is pretty much summer on a plate. Fresh peaches and luscious crème fraîche are heaped in a pastry crust and baked until juicy, soft, and oh so sweet.
These grilled peaches with honey and black pepper are an easy summer dessert that caramelizes the natural sweetness of stone fruits and turns them tender and soft. A drizzle of honey and a slight bite from black pepper takes them over the top.
Like a cross between pie and a juicy deep dish cobbler, this peach berry sonker, topped with tender pastry and drizzled with milk dip, is one of the best old-fashioned desserts we've ever tried.
One of my most popular main dish is this Spicy Peach Skillet Chicken. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and a little tangy—my favorite combo! With peaches now in season, it’s a great way to make use of one of my favorite fruits, but I have made this successfully many times with frozen peaches as well.
These roast pork chops with peaches are an easy, no-fuss, sheet pan meal of seasoned, roasted pork chops, peach wedges, and red onion, all topped with pomegranate molasses. A weeknight winner that belongs in your dinner rotation.
Peach, burrata, and basil salad is one of those dishes that's a riff on Caprese salad. Arrange some oozing pieces of burrata cheese on a plate, top with peach chunks, and toss in some basil.
This peach and rhubarb jam preserves the flavor of ripe, juicy peaches and tart rhubarb, which means you can be reminded of summer even on the coldest winter day.
Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join 40,000 food lovers and subscribe.
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