If only the peaches on our tree would ripen a few at a time so that we could enjoy this juicy candy for weeks at a time. But instead, they seem to be ready all at once. Therefore, over the past few days, our family could all be seen with peach juice running down our chins as we enjoyed the most tasty peaches of the year!
Matt brought in this big bowl full, plus two more boxes. See the little bite marks taken out of some of the peaches? Dear Squirrels, You are very naughty. You are not cute when you are eating our peaches. Go play in someone else’s yard and come back after we pick all of our peaches. Sincerely, Laura and the hungry crew
Over the weekend, we made two of our favorite peach recipes: Peach Syrup and Peach Crisp. We ate peach syrup on pancakes, then froze the rest for another treat another day. The peach crisps also went into the freezer for a quick dessert when we have company.
With the rest of our peaches, here are some fun recipes either on my site or that I’ve found while doing some peachy online searches:
- One of our favorite ways to eat frozen peaches is Strawberry Peach Slushies.
- Don’t forget Peach Fruit Leather! It’s so easy and fun.
- Here’s my tutorial on Canning Fresh Peaches.
- Fresh peaches on a Fruit Pizza? So good!
- Tammy’s Peach Mango Salsa looks incredible.
- Check out this very healthy Creamy Peach Smoothie recipe at NoDietsAllowed.
- I want to try this Peach Iced Tea recipe – only I’ll use sucanat or honey for sweetener.
- My kids would love these Fresh Peach Popsicles – again with sucanat or honey instead of white sugar.
Now your turn! What are your favorite peach recipes?
Haven’t tried it yet, but I plan on using some to flavor the second ferment of my water kefir!
We learned something VERY exciting last year… you can freeze whole peaches! Wash them up, let them dry, then put them on a tray whole WITH the skins in the freezer. Once they are frozen solid, put them into freezer bags. Take out one as you need it. While still frozen, you can easily run your hands over the skin under water to remove it (if you want). Then let sit until thawed or defrost in the microwave for about 25 seconds. This is how we now enjoy peaches, with no added sugar and without canning them, all year long.
BTW, your recipes look yummy! ;)
So can you use these frozen peaches as you would a fresh one, year-round?
Yep! We put like to put them in our oatmeal, mostly. But they can definitely be eaten sliced, much like canned peaches. We’ve also taken 10 or so out at a time to make pies & crisps. Awesome, isn’t it??
No way. That is SO cool. Thank you for telling us all about this!
I had bought about 16 or so peaches with the intention of canning some and making preserves out of the rest. Life being what it was, I had to freeze them or lose them. When I thawed them out to process them the flesh had turned a yucky brown color and they were very squishy. Needles to say I ended up with more preserves than intended! I made Honey Spiced Peach Preserves to account for the coloring of the flesh and it does still taste good, but needs less honey!
Here’s a peach tea that already uses honey as the sweetener.
We love our own fresh peaches as well. I’m wishing we had a few more because that taste can’t be beat!
http://feedingpickle.blogspot.com/2013/08/basil-peach-tea.html
yummy! I just wish our baby peach trees would have peaches on them to enjoy. Maybe in a few more years, we will have an abundance like that. How old are your trees? Do you feed them (fertilizer)?
Our tree is about six or seven years old. We don’t fertilize them, just water. :)
This is my favorite peach recipe–Peach Salsa! This has become a meal staple for us during peach season, and it uses in-season tomatoes at the same time!
http://feedingpickle.blogspot.com/2013/07/summery-fresh-peach-salsa.html
We have two peach trees, but they always get a gray fungus on them right before they get ripe enough to pick or else the squirrels steal them all. What do you do to your trees for upkeep? Do you put anything special on them or around them? Do you spray them with anything?
Matt just waters them really well – and chases squirrels away. :) We don’t spray anything on them, so they do get eaten up a little bit.
Perfect timing for me!! thank you!! We are heading out for a long weekend & I have LOTS of peaches from both generous family members & farmer’s market purchases, so I will be trying the freezing whole trick :) Thank you!
We love to put fresh peaches on/in things, homemade vanilla ice cream, waffles/pancakes, shortcake or yogurt. Actually, my daughter and I just made a french yogurt cake (like pound cake, but with Greek yogurt and coconut oil instead of butter). I plan to serve the cake with fresh peaches and creme fraiche. Also, I can’t wait to try making your strawberry cream muffin recipe with peaches.
Hey Laura, sounds like you have loads of ideas here. Just thought I’d share another. You know your applesauce bread? The recipe is way, way good with “peach” sauce! I made some peach leather-like stuff last summer, and it got a little tedious. (: So, I chunked the rest of the peach purée (with skins on) in the freezer. We had peach muffins all winter long. As a surprise grace gift, I just happened to freeze it in 1.5 cup quantities, which is of course perfect for doubling that recipe! So, this year I skipped the peach leather altogether and just froZe lots of bags of purée for muffins! I’m sure it would be great for smoothies too! Thanks again for everything!!!
Just a note I make my crisp topping in bulk and freeze it in a gallon bag (yes, it’s usually full). That way when I want a quick dessert I just put some fruit in a pan, throw on some crisp topping and bake. I love having it handy. Doing peaches today. I love trading jelly and jam for fresh fruit!
I have a dwarf peach tree live in Texas. This year with all our rain in April & May I have picked 5 wheel barrows full. So many I don’t know what to do with them all.
Haven given away a ton & freezing some. No insecticide sprayed. Just water. No bugs either.
Just a bumper crop.