On Friday I was headed home after work and I called Sickie to see if he needed anything.
Lloyd:”*cough* *cough* There’s a truck *cough* on the highway *cough* that’s selling peaches and *cough*”
Lauren: “I got it. You want peaches.”
I drove quickly because it was almost 6 and I didn’t know if the peach guy would close up shop or not. He was open, and I had 4 dollars, expecting to be able to buy a handful of fruit.
Peach Guy: “I don’t split up boxes. I can let you have this one for 20 bucks.”
20 bucks!!! Grrrrr….. I broke into my emergency money and bought the box, grumbling the whole way home that I had just bought a box of work. Lloyd likes fruit, but he couldn’t eat all this before it went bad.
So, on Sunday afternoon I made peach puree. The goal is to eventually turn it all into fruit leather, but I won’t show you those pictures until I figure out if I’m doing it right. Here’s my day in photos:
Cut ’em all the way around criss-cross-like and dunk them in boiling water for as long as it takes you to whistly your ABC’s in a jaunty style. If you get tired of that one, try Twinkle Twinkle or Baa Baa Black Sheep. Take them out and the skin just slips right off.
Then just smush ’em off the pit.
Add some water, some sugar and a slug of lemon juice. Start cooking and start smashin’. Admit that you really don’t know what you’re doing.
Get out the immersion blender. Sniff it to make sure it doesn’t smell like curried peas, since that’s all you ever use it for.
I poured five trays of fruit leather, three ice cube trays, then a mini-muffin tin for peach ice cubes. I figure these will be good to throw in a glass of orange juice.
I made the first pot and realized I’d have to make another. I grumbled about how many peaches there were, and Sickie said, “Could we use them for pie?”
I had no idea he liked peach pie. So, I cut up some for a pie.
This was even more fun than the first kind of cut. I cut each peach into eight wedges (four times around), dunked it in the boiling water, slipped off the peel, then cut it around the middle.
It was like taking apart a Rubik’s cube! (That’s how I used to solve it. I may not be smart, but I can demolish stuff and re-assemble with a minimal amount of damage.)
So: after all that (2 1/2 pots’ worth), now there is this giant tub of peach puree waiting its turn in either the freezer or the dehydrator, and there is still a giant bowl of peaches for Lloyd to eat. I can’t tell if the 20 bucks was a bargain or not.