The Moldy Peaches: A Sad Tale of Fruit Gone Bad, Not a Stirring Tale of a Quirky Band.

I HATE to waste food.  My husband is so aware of this fact that before he threw away 14lbs of organic peaches, he took a picture of their decay to prove the need for his seemingly rash decision. I am much more of a cut-around-the-bad-stuff-and-use-the-rest kinda gal, while he errs on the side of cut out some good stuff to make sure you got it all kinda guy.

But the real story is not our differing approaches to dealing with waste, but how I ended up with a box full of undeniably sad peaches.

Summer's bounty comes when it comes. In our case, we order locally grown organic fruit from Crown O'Maine on Thursdays and, with any luck, it arrives the following Thursday. I usually mark some up fifty cents or so and put it out on the sidewalk just beacause I think every pedestrain city needs something of a fruit stand. Anything that doesn't get sold the first day get turned into wine, jam, dessert, vodka infusions, shrub, syrup, or something so I try to place my orders with the idea that I will be processing all of it just in case it doesn't sell.

So far things have gone well, there has been one fruit per week, but then July happened and all in one week we had access to organic blueberries, green beans, and peaches. What is a wannabe homesteader like me to do? Order 'em all!

Dilly beans, blueberry jam, and blueberry wine ain't no thang, so I knew I could bang out that piece of it no problem. Peaches, on the other hand, well, I knew there would be peeling and pitting involved so it would inherently be harder. I also knew that with Grant's first birthday, the weekend was sure to be full to the brim and that Monday would be the first opportunity I would have to address the box of peaches.

And I had plans: Peaches in syrup from Food in Jars, peaches in BOURBON syrup, also from Food in Jars, and honeyed peaches from the hip girl's guide to homemaking. Not to mention the quaffables: wine and a vodka infusion!

Monday night arrived and I thought the peaches would be ripened to perfection, but instead they were gone. With our KahBang events looming on Thursday and Friday, I had to sit out a whole week of canning.

I was sad about the money, but even more than that, I was sad about the loss of these perfect little fruits that had spent months working towards a sweet encapsulation, only to find themselves unceremoniously dropped in the trash can.

My new box of peaches arrived today, the only fruit I am planning to process this week (sorry tomatoes and cucumbers).

Turn Your Head and Quaff

Around these parts we like a good libation.  And in keeping with our general bent towards folksy homesteadery, we like to make all manner of beverages and beverage enhancers.

I have a batch of strawberry and raspberry wine and melomel (mead) going, but it will be months before we get to enjoy them.  I imagine opening a bottle in the dead of January to invoke summer's memory.

But, as I live in the now, and enjoy the light refreshing nature of a vodka tonic on a hot summer's evening, I made three more immediate, simple refreshment enhancers.

The first is a raspberry infused vodka, a la Anne-Marie of Greenish Monkey. Unlike the faux flavored raspberry vodkas widely available, homemade raspberry vodka is light pink in color and far less sugary.  It is also incredibly simple to make:

Ingredients:

3 c vodka (lots of people use cheap stuff here, but I like to go local with Twenty 2 vodka)
1 c raspberries (or other fruit)
1 Tbs sugar

Put all of this in a canning jar and store in a darkish place for several days - 4 or 5 is sufficient.
Give it a shake every day.

Pour it through a sieve, pressing the fruit gently to maximize vodka juiceyness and minimize pulp.

Optionally, pour the whole thing through a coffee filter to really clear it up.

Next on the list is a multipurpose raspberry syrup which is good in yogurt, vodka tonic, champagne, seltzer, on ice cream...you get the picture.  Zoe loves the pale pink color it emits in a glass of seltzer and ice.  Though it is a bit sugary, a tablespoonful in an eight ounce beverage goes a long way.  At some point I will try this with honey.

This can be canned or not, but either way you will want to start by boiling your jars and lids for 10 minutes to sterilize them for the sauce.

Ingredients:

1/4 c water
3 c fresh raspberries (or blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, etc.)
1-2 c sugar (depends on how much juice you generate)

Wash berries and gently mash in a sauce pan

Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until they are good and juicy

Pour through a fine sieve and gently press berries to maximize juice and minimize pulp. Measure and return to sauce pan.

Add sugar in a one-to-one ratio (1 c juice to 1 c sugar).  Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for about 1 minute until sauce is slightly thicker.

Pour into clean jars and cap.

If canning, place on canning rack and process for 10 minutes.  Remove and let cool.

And last but not least, is a tangy sweet mixer called shrub.  I discovered this beverage enhancer on the Food in Jars blog.  Anne-Marie turned me onto this site, which has become a bit of an obsession because of the author's focus on accomplish-able batches.

Anyone who like sour beer will immediately see the potential in this one.  Zoe's been digging on the non-alcoholic versions of this one too.

Ingredients:

1 c raspberries (or other fruit)
1 c sugar
1 c vinegar (apple cider works well)

Combine raspberries and sugar in a 1 quart canning jar and mash until juicy (How many times can I use this word) in one post?  I don't know, but I hope this is the last). Put in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Remove from refrigerator and strain through a mesh sieve into another wide mouth quart jar.  Add vinegar, cap and place in the refrigerator.

You may need to shake it up a few times to incorporate all the sugar.  It tastes good immediately, but the flavor evolves over time.

Like the raspberry syrup, you can use this in vodka tonics, champagne, seltzer, etc.