Peach Be With You

A friend just brought me some peaches from a local fruit stand and the aroma is so intoxicating I can’t think of anything else.

Just-picked peaches bear no resemblance to the listless rocks sitting glumly in the supermarket, but their season is fleeting so you need to get them while they’re good. In that spirit I offer up a few favorite peach recipes.

Let’s start with pickled peaches, a once-standard supermarket item that has pretty much disappeared from the shelves.

When I was growing up my mother kept a jar on hand to perk up the ubiquitous baked ham. Last week I tried making my own, and was surprised both by how easy they are - and how much better they taste than the commercial kind.

Pickled Peaches
Peel a dozen or so small, fairly ripe (but not soft) peaches by immersing them in boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds. Run them under cold water and watch the skins slip right off. Cut off any brown spots.

Put 3½ cups of sugar and a cup and a half of plain white vinegar into a heavy-bottomed pot. Add a cup and a half of water and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Gently slide the peaches into the brine (you will probably need to do this in a couple of batches) and allow them to cook for about 4 minutes, turning them from time to time; you don't want them to get too cooked. Put the cooked peaches into a large bowl.

When all the peaches are cooked the brine should have turned a lovely light pink. Bring it back to a boil and pour it over the peaches. Add 10 whole cloves, a couple sticks of cinnamon and a small knob of ginger that you've peeled and sliced.

Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature, then cover and put the bowl into the refrigerator for a day or two to cure. Turn the peaches from time to time, or weight them down to keep them submerged.

Serve the whole peaches with any roasted meat.

This menu is from Daniel Patterson’s San Francisco restaurant, Coi. I love the idea of summer being frozen in time - and this strikes me as a menu I’d be extremely happy to eat right now.

Here are a few of my favorite peach recipes. The pie is wonderful, but