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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Last Peaches Down

Last Peaches Down

by John Cole|  August 21, 20216:39 pm| 58 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I haven’t checked the website in 24 hours because I have been in kind of a pissy mood, but thought I would check in and say hello and see what you all are up to. I spent the day getting the last run of peaches done for the season. I say it is the last run, but if I stumble on a bunch at the farmer’s market for dirt cheap I will consider it. I’m really needing pears this season. I am completely out downstairs and want some more, and need to call an orchard stat.

The peaches I finished today are the last run from the orchard I normally go to, and this is always what I used to make my private stash. The peaches are irregularly sized, usually super ripe when I get them, there are a bunch of drops which means bruising, etc., but they are always the best because they stay on the trees longest because the “prettier” peaches are sold earlier on to picky customers, if that makes sense.

So a lot of the jars of peaches aren’t as pretty as my earlier canned ones, because these are shaggier and half of them are cut irregularly because I had to cut some bruises out of the slices, but they are the sweetest and often times so ripe I can’t even cut them because they nearly disintegrate in my hands. In short, these are the peaches I save for the foodies like my buddy Steve (actual friend, not the cat) and the pretty girls.

Other than that, not much going on here. I’m processing the last twenty heads of cabbage tomorrow. and other than that I am going to be napping.

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Reader Interactions

58Comments

  1. 1.

    sab

    August 21, 2021 at 6:44 pm

    I love peaches so much.

    My sister had a job in Taiwan back before democracy when KMT ran everything. She said entire peach crop went to Imperial Palace. Nobody else got anything. She was sad because she loves peaches.

  2. 2.

    Benw

    August 21, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    At the store last week I got donut peaches, which I never heard of before. They were delicious!

  3. 3.

    Starfish

    August 21, 2021 at 6:55 pm

    I needed a place to share this dog video, and this is close enough to the top of the thread to bring joy.

  4. 4.

    J R in WV

    August 21, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    I bought a little bag of peaches at the Farmer’s Market, probably the last for this year, Romney peaches. I made a peach kuchen, an old pennsy dutch recipe from my grandfather’s family. Granddad was a blacksmith from the PA farm country back when blacksmiths were becoming mechanics and steam engine engineers. He married my grandma who was from Louisa KY — more southern than her hubby, so her sisters-in-law sent her family recipes to make her husband feel comfortable.

    Peach kuchen is basically peach halves, on a crumb crust, baked for a few minutes, then covered with sour cream beaten with egg yolks. Cinnamon and sugar, and as a foodie I add Chinese Five Spice, just a sprinkle… Hot to bake this time of year, but oh so good.

    Unfortunately you can’t use canned peaches to make this delight. I’ve posted grandma’s recipe, I have a recipe card she typed herself … kind of emotional to take it out of the box and cook with it. I know how to make it by heart, but holding that card is so sweet.

  5. 5.

    Wag

    August 21, 2021 at 7:01 pm

    We have a young peach tree that I planted about 5 years ago. I harvested 30 lbs of peaches from it this year, and made peach jam last night. Pretty good, if I say so myself!  And I’ve been eating 3-4 peaches every day for the past two weeks.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    August 21, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    @Starfish: Here’s another doggie video.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    August 21, 2021 at 7:09 pm

    Obligatory

  8. 8.

    eclare

    August 21, 2021 at 7:17 pm

    @MattF:  All of a sudden it’s dusty in here…

  9. 9.

    John Revolta

    August 21, 2021 at 7:27 pm

    @J R in WV: Oh man…..I still have some old recipe cards my mother wrote out in her signature purple ink……..Priceless!

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 21, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    @Baud: Or Peaches and Herb.

  11. 11.

    VeniceRiley

    August 21, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    @J R in WV:  That’s lovely. I had my sister take screenshots of my mom’s pie cards. Sent them on to my fiancé to hold for me so I can convert to metric and bake for her over there. Mom made the very best pumpkin, cheesecake, and apple pie I ever ate.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 21, 2021 at 7:29 pm

    Don’t worry Cole, we didn’t burn the site down while you were out.  Not that we weren’t tempted…

  13. 13.

    Downpuppy

    August 21, 2021 at 7:30 pm

    Grocery store peaches in Boston are mostly cotton & wood. Trader Joes has some California peaches that are more or less edible, but that’s about it.
    Which makes no gottdam sense. There are plenty of peach trees around, and the fruit that grows on them is delicious.

    All of which is to say, I’m headed down to Fairmont WV next month, looking for a retirement home with a bit of land to garden on. Anybody with property under *One Million Dollars* that Fuzzy Lumpkins isn’t guarding, send me a message. Looks like 2 days of real estate & 3 days of tourism. (Gettysburg, Niagara Falls, Slowly I Turned)

  14. 14.

    Steve in the ATL

    August 21, 2021 at 7:34 pm

    “Last Peaches Down”—if it’s half as intense as “Black Hawk Down” it’ll be great!  And hopefully stars a better actor than Josh Hartnett.

  15. 15.

    JMG

    August 21, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    Local peaches here on Cape Cod are fine right now, but Henri may make a bad dent in the fruit and vegetable department. We have at least three days of food we can cook on the stovetop and the outdoor charcoal grill when the storm passes, as I assume we’ll be out of power for at least a day and probably more. However, unlike the rest of New England, it hasn’t rained very much at all on the Cape, so our trees are less likely to fall over in the storm. I hope.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    August 21, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    @sab:

    They’ve been smaller this year, but very, very sweet and juicy.

  17. 17.

    grandmaBear

    August 21, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    At the house where I spent most of my childhood we had an ugly tree, more like a shrub, really, that had the most incredible white peaches. Not a good jam or canning peach. Fragile, easily bruised, but the size of softballs, flesh was white with reddish blush. Incredible sliced fresh or in peach ice cream. I’ve never had anything like it since. I’ve heard most of our best white peaches go to Japan, where they are willing to pay top dollar for them. Yellow peaches were for canning, jam or best of all, cobblers , which were deep dish top crust only pies where I grew up.
    I’ve been cooking from my garden recently, have made pesto, tomato sauce and caponata. May make pickled Mexican carrots and jalapeños next. Having black raspberry ice cream tonight. This year was better for my garden, I felt I could go to a local nursery to get plants rather than cope with whatever I could order online like last year. I have so many Shanghai greens (bokchoy) the ducks are happy. And I overplanted basil after losing most of mine to a freeze last year. Oh well, more pesto I guess.

  18. 18.

    PsiFighter37

    August 21, 2021 at 7:44 pm

    I’d like more political posts from you Cole. Just a small request from a longtime reader who read this blog when you were a registered Republican. Your insight on those matters is missed, at least from me.

  19. 19.

    dexwood

    August 21, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Timely post for me. My neighbors just delivered about 10 pounds of peaches. 2 pounds of red grapes. Ms. dexwood will prep and freeze half the peaches with an eye toward holiday baking. She’ll make peach empanadas and more with the rest.

  20. 20.

    Chacal Charles Caltrop

    August 21, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Here in NYC we are just waiting for Henri the hurricane. A thunderstorm just passed overhead, presumably an outlier of the storm to come.

    meanwhile, I’m sure everyone has seen Henri Le Chat Noir, but on the off chance you haven’t, this should be his channel on youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKV9BaMeTZ1XkpTzvJl226Q

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    August 21, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    Next time you’re going to be gone for 24 hours John, please let us know in advance so we can have some extra fun with Dad’s a way. :-)

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    August 21, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @Starfish: I have seen that one before, but it’s always funny.  Even when you know what’s coming.

  23. 23.

    eddie blake

    August 21, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @Chacal Charles Caltrop:  yup. just waitin’ for the big show to start in kensington. thought the earlier rain was it, but guess that was just the opening act.

  24. 24.

    Poptartacus

    August 21, 2021 at 7:57 pm

    I filleted a 35 pd salmon I caught half went into brine for smoking tomorrow and the other half for gravlax mr. Dogo got the scraps he loves salmon season

  25. 25.

    TaMara (HFG)

    August 21, 2021 at 8:00 pm

    @JMG: Keeping a good thought! I’ve checked in with all my MA friends and family and they seem as prepared as they can be.

     

    @Wag: I’m jealous. I’ve wanted to plant a peach tree, but my friend keeps talking me out of it, saying they are difficult to grow. As I am your neighbor, I’m thinking I’ll take your 30# of peaches as a sign to pick out a nice peach tree this fall. <3

  26. 26.

    PsiFighter37

    August 21, 2021 at 8:03 pm

    @Chacal Charles Caltrop: Not the worst thunderstorm to hit this summer. We’ll see what this sucker has to bring, although it seems like it’ll be east enough to not cause problems for us Big Applers.

  27. 27.

    worn

    August 21, 2021 at 8:05 pm

    Well fer fuck’s sake, John – if only you didn’t live 2500+ miles from away you’d be welcome to literally all the pears you could carry home. I have an old orchard tree in my side yard that dates from when this neighborhood was platted in the 1910’s. And in good years she sure puts out the fruit.

    This is sure as hell one of those.

    I imagine I will put 20 pounds in the yard debris roll can tomorrow (all the pears that have already fallen to the ground & are damaged and/or going soft).

    It’s a funny thing about living in the Pacific Northwest. There are many other trees scattered within a block or two of my house and easily accessible from the sidewalk (or in the parking strips, which are city property). So in the fall season there are basically as many apples, plums, figs, etc. for the taking as one might want.

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 21, 2021 at 8:10 pm

    ?If I had my little way,

    I’d eat peaches every day

    Sun-soakin’ bulges in the shade?

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 21, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    @Poptartacus:

    a 35 pd salmon 

    Woah.

  30. 30.

    japa21

    August 21, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    Our son had a bumper crop of peaches this year. Tomorrow we are making several jars of peach jam.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    August 21, 2021 at 8:21 pm

    I love a good peach cobbler. Love. It.

    When I was a kid, I would eat a peach, but it was never my first choice.

    Don’t much care for them now as a standalone fruit.

  32. 32.

    cynn

    August 21, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    I sold my corner two story house six years ago for a downtown condo.  What I miss:  a hose to wash my windows, a patio and a front yard for me and my cats to hang out in; a porch; a kitchen where I could pickle cucumbers from my neighbors’ gardens.  It’s like living in a terrarium.  But I love to hear and see the wonderful house you have created.

  33. 33.

    Benw

    August 21, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    @Baud: their cover of Kick Out the Jams slaps!

  34. 34.

    jl

    August 21, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    Thanks for peachy update. Wish I were there soaking up the beautiful W BG V mid-summer countryside and atmosphere, and slop eating drop dead ripe peaches, ugly or not.

    My only quibble is that we really  need pix of the pretty and ugly peaches, jarred and unjarred to evaluate Cole’s evaluation of the local peach situation.

  35. 35.

    Rob

    August 21, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    @Starfish: I needed that, thanks!

  36. 36.

    Poptartacus

    August 21, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    @

     

    @mrmoshpotato: yes 3 lines hit at the same time a triple hook up unheard of landed 2 one got away. Triple hook ups are tuff with only one net.

  37. 37.

    jl

    August 21, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Also, the title of the post brought an odd image to my mind. A mob of the peach starved foodies roaming an orchard. One spots a peach crop and yells ‘Peach down! Peach down!’ and an ugly rampage ensues.

  38. 38.

    dr. bloor

    August 21, 2021 at 8:33 pm

    @Poptartacus: AKA The Bar Mitzvah Special.

  39. 39.

    Sure Lurkalot

    August 21, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    The peaches from Palisade Colorado have been very good this year. Last year I thought the texture was mushy. I don’t can, bake or like sweets very much but I love peaches.

    Like WG, we have a lot of various spicy peppers and good to know they can be frozen. I’ve only frozen roasted ones before. Meanwhile, I’m going to use some in a stir fry tonight.

    I hope all the jackals near Henri get through safe and sound.  The waiting and worrying takes a toll.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 21, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    Who named them "swordfish" and not Lance Bass.— SUE the T. rex ? (@SUEtheTrex) July 27, 2021

  41. 41.

    Central Planning

    August 21, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    My wife has been buying peaches from the local farm stand. They are slightly under-ripe so she puts them in paper bags. Somehow they immediately seem to become moldy.

    The struggle is real. 

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 21, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    Also,

    I AM AVAILABLE TO HOST JEOPARDY— SUE the T. rex ? (@SUEtheTrex) August 21, 2021

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    August 21, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    Peaches are good.

    ObOpenThread:

    [meteor hitting earth]

    Dinosaur: oh no the economy !!

    — Ygrene (@Ygrene) March 28, 2020

    (via IamHappyToast)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    persistentillusion

    August 21, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):  I had neighbors in COS years ago with a peach tree in inauspicious soil and absolutely no care that bore heavily each year. The neighbors were headed for assisted living, so they paid it no mind. The deer would come by and eat, and later in the season, stagger around from the fermented peaches. Good times.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    August 21, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @Central Planning:

    Try fewer peaches per bag.

  46. 46.

    Starfish

    August 21, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: Last year was a very difficult year for Palisade peaches. Wasn’t there a spring freeze that took a lot of them out?

    This year, the peaches are amazing, and there are apples everywhere.

  47. 47.

    Uncle Omar

    August 21, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    Those extra ripe, super sweet peaches are called “sinkers” here in Colorado peach country because the only way you can eat them is leaning over the sink.

  48. 48.

    Dan B

    August 21, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    @worn: Our neighbors to the south have an Asian Pear tree.  To the west there’s a loaded Apple tree and a fruitless Pear.  That neighbor is bedridden so the fruit will probably feed rats and Hornets, hopefully not Murders.

  49. 49.

    Fake Irishman

    August 21, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    @worn:

    It sounds like citrus in Houston. I had a great orange tree which gave out 100-200 a year in a good year. Each one was like a blood/navel hybrid with sweet flesh speckled with pink spots. After five years I had gotten the hang of pruning and fertilizing it right.
    Then the winter storm hit and killed it. I can’t even dig the stump out and plant a new one because there is somehow a set of gas lines and fiber optic cables within two feet of the stump. :(

  50. 50.

    Kattails

    August 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    I am trying so hard not to be jealous. Signed up for an art in the park weekend Labor Day & shouldn’t even be taking the time to read anything much less can food, & still haven’t gotten the oven fixed since it got moused so no baking *sigh* However, will recommend upside down peach cake as a yummy.

  51. 51.

    Laura Too

    August 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    @TaMara (HFG): Go for the peach tree! I have one in MN. Last year I got 76 wonderful peaches off it. This year 45. I guess it is planted closer to the black walnut than I thought…my yard/garden is totally survival of the fittest. If it doesn’t come back it is an annual. I proved that I could do it though.

  52. 52.

    Laura Too

    August 21, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    @Dan B: We have a cidery called Urban Forage that comes and picks any fruit people don’t want so it doesn’t go to waste. Also some food shelves have volunteers that will pick & bring in. Anything like that in your area?

  53. 53.

    StringOnAStick

    August 21, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    We had a late freeze, so there is one peach on the tree.  The pie cherry produced heavily though.

    our new home has 3 blueberry bushes, the one in the sun made a few and the other two did nothing so I moved them to be with the sunny one.  The prior owner did nothing with the yard so they were quite neglected.  I’ve increased their water and have each a solid dose of work castings; anyone have any other suggestions?

  54. 54.

    M

    August 21, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    At the farmer’s market today in masked MoCo, MD, I was sniffing cantaloupes and peaches before I bought them.  Other shoppers seemed to think I was crazy, but not the farmers.  If the product doesn’t smell like it should, it will never be delicious.

  55. 55.

    Central Planning

    August 21, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    @debbie: We will. Thanks!

  56. 56.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    August 21, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    My favourite in summer is always the nectarines – and I’m buying a basket weekly of the Niagara Region’s finest at the farmers market.

  57. 57.

    Kattails

    August 22, 2021 at 12:33 am

    @StringOnAStick: very late, you might not see this but blueberries like wood ashes, acidic soil.

  58. 58.

    mj

    August 22, 2021 at 4:28 am

    dead thread, but anyway…

    I remember riding around town on bicycles with friends and we would take pears from trees, thinking nothing of it.

    It was theft.

    They were delicious.

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