BRATTLEBORO — The peach, when ripe, is the most perfect of fruit: fragrant, beautiful, juicy, exquisitely delicious. An unripe peach - or, worse, a mealy peach - is just downright awful.
Frequently, peaches don't really seem to ripen well after they are picked; they only get softer, which is not at all the same. And peaches bruise very easily, transforming into unsightly orbs covered with small brown hollows in a few hours.
Early September is high peach season here in southern Vermont, and I urge you to take full advantage of the just-picked, fully ripe, and gorgeous local fruit that are now available.
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Peaches (Prunus persica) started out in China, where they have been grown since 2000 B.C.E. Peaches can be grown in Vermont, and they actually require a bit of cold in order to produce fruit, but most varieties won't withstand too much cold, so it's a tricky business.
Peach trees flower relatively early in the spring, and frost can kill those blossoms and result in a season with no fruit at all. This year seems as if it'll be a good one.
Like plums, apricots, and cherries, peaches are stone fruits, named so because of their pits. Peaches and nectarines are actually just different cultivars of the same fruit; one has a fuzzy skin, the other has a smooth skin. Without the identifying skin, I find it hard to tell which is which.
Peaches and nectarines can be of the freestone or clingstone variety, self-defining terms if ever there were. White peaches, with their delicate perfume and pale pink flesh, can be of either variety. Peaches in general have little acidity and white peaches even less; thus, their pronounced and sweeter taste.
Simply eating a perfectly ripe, just-picked peach is the best way to appreciate its uniqueness, but you can also make some pretty wonderful things with this fruit in the kitchen.
Cooked peaches need a bit of acidity, salt, or - even better - some cured pork to perk them up. Here are a few out of the ordinary recipes that are great individually but could be the basis of an all-peach meal, which is a great way to celebrate their short sweet season.
Pancetta-wrapped peach wedges
This first recipe pairs the salty meatiness of pork with the sweetness of the peach and is a great start to a late summer meal. You can get pancetta - Italian, Croatian, or Slovenian bacon - sliced to order at North End Butchers in Brattleboro; or most supermarkets have packets of the meat pre-sliced.
For 4 servings, peel and cut into 8 wedges each:
¶2 ripe peaches
Lay them out on the counter with:
¶16 very thin slices of pancetta
Put a peach wedge at the skinny end of each slice and top with:
¶a leaf of fresh basil
Roll up the pancetta around the peach slice.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add half of the pancetta-wrapped peaches and cook, turning occasionally, until the meat is brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a platter and repeat with the remaining wedges.
Drizzle the finished peaches with a bit of aged balsamic vinegar and serve.
Peach toasts
Here's a meatless appetizer that uses the salty piquancy of blue cheese to tart up the fruit.
For 4 servings, take:
¶8 slices of rustic bread or baguette
Lightly brush on both sides with:
¶2 tablespoons of olive oil
Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast in a pre-heated, 400-degree F oven.
Bake until golden, turning the bread once or twice to ensure that both sides color (7-10 minutes). Remove bread from the oven but leave the heat on.
Peel, pit, and cut into {1/4}-inch slices:
¶2 ripe peaches
Distribute the slices among the toasts and top each with:
¶1 ounce blue cheese
Gorgonzola works divinely here.
Place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so, until the cheese is slightly melted and the peaches have softened.
Trickle some delicious honey over the tops and serve.
Salad with peaches
Peaches are great in salads and combine well with other fruit that have a higher acid level, like tomatoes; you can try using peaches instead of tomatoes in a mozzarella-basil salad.
But I recommend this slightly exotic salad combination with its touch of curry. A mix of Cherokee Purple and Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes look beautiful in this salad against the color of the peaches.
For 4 servings, whisk in a small bowl:
¶{1/4} cup extra-virgin olive oil
¶1 tablespoon lemon juice
¶1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
¶{1/4} teaspoon curry powder
¶{1/4} teaspoon salt
Cut and arrange into 8 wedges on 4 plates, alternating slices:
¶2 tomatoes, large
¶2 peaches, large, ripe, and peeled
Drizzle the dressing over the fruit and serve.
Chicken thighs with peaches and ginger
I have occasionally been overzealous in my purchase of peaches and found myself with a rather large amount of hard ones that were once destined for jam but now sit on my counter radiating guilt. Here are two ways to turn hard peaches into a tasty dish.
This first recipe could not be easier. The ingredients are combined in the pan in which they are cooked. For 4 servings, wash, halve, and slice into{1/2}-inch wedges:
¶2 to 3 hard peaches
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large baking pan, toss the peaches with:
¶1 pound of chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, and cut into 1-inch strips
¶2 tablespoons olive oil
¶2 tablespoons white wine, dry vermouth or, even better, dry sherry
¶2 garlic cloves, minced
¶1-inch piece of ginger root, grated
¶2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
¶salt and pepper
Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the peaches are soft.
Remove, garnish with another tablespoon or so of chopped basil, and serve with some great bread and a salad.
Or you could go peach wild and serve those chicken thighs with this peach slaw.
Peach slaw
In a medium bowl, mix:
¶{1/2} cup plain yogurt
¶2 teaspoons honey
¶juice from {½} lemon
¶{1/2} teaspoon ginger, grated
Peel, cut into thin, matchstick-size pieces, and add to the bowl:
¶4 hard peaches
¶salt and pepper to taste
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, drain any excess liquid and taste for seasoning.
Butterscotch peaches
I find that in baked desserts like cobblers or pies, the flavor of peaches flattens out and is lost. This last recipe involves no dough or crust or crumble to interfere with the fruit itself, and the combination of cream and browned butter just elevates the flavor to the ethereal. I must credit Celia Barbour for the recipe and the charming accompanying article that appeared in the Aug. 23, 2006 New York Times.
The recipe is for 4 but could easily be slurped up by 2 or even 1 serious peach lover in the privacy of her kitchen.
Peel and, holding them over a bowl to catch the juice, cut into 10 to 12 slices:
¶6 peaches
In a medium skillet over low heat, melt
¶4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
Raise the heat to medium high and cook the butter until it foams, subsides, foams again, and begins to brown. As soon as the butter is nut-brown, add the peaches and their juice. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, then lower the heat so that the peaches will just stay warm.
In another saucepan, combine:
¶{1/2} cup heavy cream
¶{1/2} cup of sugar
¶1 tablespoon honey
Place over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar is melted. Raise the heat to medium and let the mixture boil until it turns a rich golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Make sure the mixture has caramelized and thickened.
Very carefully pour the peach mixture into the cream mixture. It will sputter and spit. Stir gently. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
At this point, you could add a teaspoon of vanilla or a tablespoon of bourbon, or just leave it its delicious simple self.
Serve warm or at room temperature over ice cream.
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It is ironic that this subtle and delicious fruit, its flavor the very essence of summer, comes into season as the summer itself is fleeting.
A peach contains all of that season's sweetness packed inside its funny fuzzy skin, blush red and plump. It is our reward for enduring the rains, the sweltering humidity, the blazing heat of a summer that is now gone.
But we still have the peach, at least for a few weeks more. It is, after all, September.