Meet the perfect summer fruit
By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times
Whether artfully arranged in a tart as shown here, made into a crumble or served warm in a pie, baked peaches make for summer delicacies. Photo courtesy of Simona Carini
Peaches are summer’s greatest fruit – soft and warm yet almost impossibly sweet in their fuzzy golden glory. Bite into a perfect peach on a hot, sunny day, and you’ll experience the bliss of the fruit at its messy, dripping best. Personally I believe that no melon can compete, nor raspberry, blueberry or blackberry.
And yet, they are tricky to grow. Peach farmers such as Fifer Orchards in nearby Delaware say this stone fruit needs more pampering than other summer fruits. They need to stay on the tree longer to ripen and they’re more delicate. Just a few hours’ frost when trees are budding can have disastrous effects. This spring was one of those instances and Delaware’s peach crop was decimated. Despite the year’s hardship, a number of farmers markets and pick-your-own farmers are offering peaches grown nearby. For pick-your-own Highland Orchards is located at 1000 Marshallton-Thorndale Road in West Chester and Linvilla Orchards is located at 137 West Knowlton Road in Media. Both pick-your-own farms run a farm store on premises if you are inclined to shop not pick.
A few peach facts: There are two basic types of peaches are the clingstone and the freestone. Just as the names suggest, the clingstone peach has flesh that clings to the stone while the freestone peach has flesh that easily pulls away, making it a great choice for home eating or cooking. If you’ve always bought your peaches at the supermarket you may not know that they are naturally fuzzy and if you get them from a local orchard they will come that way. Those sold at the supermarket have that fuzz removed by big machines before being shipped.
As to the debate whether to peel or not to peel… For peaches that will be cooked, dipping them briefly in boiling water makes the skin slip off easily. For peaches that will be sliced and eaten raw, there is no need to peel. To easily remove the skin of a peach, mark an x on the skin on the bottom of the peach with a sharp knife and plunge it into boiling water for about a minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer the peach to a bowl of ice water for a few minutes. Once the peach is cool enough to handle, the skin will slip right off.
Fresh peaches are so visually appealing that they are irresistible presented in pies or tarts. My friend Simona Carini created this recipe for a peach tart that uses gluten-free starches. If you can’t find them or just prefer all-purpose flour, substitute that for the faro, millet and teff flours in the recipe. The almond flour is a must though. It really highlights the flavor of the fruit.
Peach Tart (Crostata di Pesche)
Recipe Courtesy of Simona Carini
Ingredients:
For the tart dough:
- 1/3 cup / 64 g / 2 1/4 oz. ultrafine sugar or 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 60 g Teff flour
- 60 g whole-grain farro or spelt flour
- 30 g millet flour
- 30 g almond flour or almond meal
- A pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoons / 70 g / 2 1/2 oz. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg, lightly whisked
- 1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 1 cup / 240 ml peach preserves
- 450 g / 1 lb ripe peaches
Simona’s full recipe is here: http://www.pulcetta.com/2014/09/crostata-pesche-peach-tart.html
For another way of using fresh peaches, here is an Italian method to serve peaches as a dessert without baking them. Take chilled red wine, and pour over sliced peaches and a dollop of sweet mascarpone cheese in a glass. It’s a simple rustic-yet-elegant way to finish a meal. The tannins in the wine complement the fruit beautifully.
If you should find yourself with richly perfumed, perfectly ripe summer peaches, forget about any further adornment. Eat them as is, outside, letting their nectar-like juices drip where they may.
Cathy Branciaroli also writes about her adventures in the kitchen on her award-winning blog Delaware Girl Eats
