Mmmm, peaches

General Cooking tips

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Stravaig
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Peaches are plentiful and cheap right now. They are in Ukraine anyway. Might as well make the most of them. This is what I do.

Cut 'em in half, hoik out the stones (are they called stones, seeds, kernels or what?), and put the peaches in a bowl. Pour boiling water over them and leave for half a minute or so. Get them out of the bowl and the skins will slip off quite easily. You can use them like that, ie halved, but I prefer to slice them.

Place the sliced peaches in a shallow oven-proof dish. Traditionally now you'd add some kind of juice/sauce sweetened with caster sugar. Marsala wine is great, but ditch the sugar and try maple syrup instead - or just do your own thing with the peaches in some kind of sauce/juice to keep them moist whilst baking. Bake at 180C for half an hour or so (I don't like to be too prescriptive). Then cool and refrigerate overnight so the flavour develops. Then you can serve or, as I'm doing, freeze for a lovely dessert for the winter. It freezes well - I've tested it.

The beauty of it is that it's a lovely make-ahead dinner party dessert with no fuss. The baked peaches are great with a dollop of mascarpone cheese, or other creamy thing.

I'm going to attempt a peach ice cream with these baked peaches soon.

This is an easy and delicious dessert!
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Geoff
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There's nothing like fresh peaches. We had a holiday in California some years back and they were selling them at the side of the road. We stopped for some but were floored by the question "Do you want a peck or a bushel?"
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Primrose
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We holidayed in Ukraine many years ago and I remember the lovely cherries they had in one of the markets. . I think peaches over here in the UK have become less popular over the years since the arrival of nectarines with their smooth skins but I'm sure anybody on here with a peach tree would like to try this recipe.

Does anybody on here have a peach tree? I suspect compared with other fruits they're not that common
Westi
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I have 2 dwarf peach trees, but each year they get peach leaf curl & drop the fruit. I sprayed them with copper mix as I read it works somewhere & it does work on blight which is another airborne thing so I thought I would give it a try. I missed the very first sprays which you should do straight from bud break so once again it dropped the fruit - bar one which I am eagerly waiting to ripen. If you note the leaf in the pic you can see the copper spray really does work. I still get the odd leaf curling but I just snip it off & use it as a guide to give another spray as well, but have not sprayed for about 2 months now. Not beaten but in retreat!
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Westi
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Oops I spot a blistered leaf after saying that! :)
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Stephen
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I have just spent the evening with my sister in Cambridge. She has just picked the peaches from her single tree. 175 individual fruit.
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Primrose
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Gosh Stephen, that's a good crop. They obviously like the climate there. Look's like she's going to be busy preserving and freezing although I'm sure peaches will be featuring on your menu too in the forthcoming days!
Stephen
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Peach chutney was on the table on Saturday!
:lol:
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Primrose
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That was quick Stephen. A lovely chutney to accompany cold meats and salads!
Stephen
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That was quick

Typical of my sister!
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Primrose
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At least he gives credit where it was due. And there was me thinking you were the next Master Chef of the year!
Stephen
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Primrose, I'd never make a chef, let alone a master chef! But I do make chutney, two batches of differing marrow/courgette chutney so far. I made up a recipe for the second one and am yet to try it. I used the method from one recipe and swopped ingredients.
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johnlehman
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I love peaches very much, I can eat them at any time ... Westi is very good at growing peaches in pots! :wink:
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A friend in Spain has a peach farm about four years abo he gave me instructions what to do ,if I remember it was make a syrup using sugar and water in a separate pan put the peach halves with the stones removed and simmer for half an hour that is were I stopped I looked at the peaches simmering there were hundreds of maggots floating on the surface I let the pan cool then tipped the lot
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Love 'em but my dwarf tree was just bashed repeatedly by a scared fledgling starling that got into the greenhouse. Ah, well, next year!
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