Standing at the kitchen sink, watching the skin peel away from a peach, I remembered my mother doing just this through my growing-up years.
My mother’s peaches were a work of art in a Mason jar. Their beauty and delectable taste rivaled the best blue ribbon awards at any County Fair.
She’d dip the fuzzy peaches in hot water for a few moments to allow easier removal of the skin without damaging the flesh. She always knew just how long each peach would take. It was important to her that the skins were removed with care, lacking any nicks, no signs of having been cooked, and without the dimpling of peeling off a skin that was still sticking to the flesh.
Mom did not like to can cling pit peaches, preferring freestones with a special fondness for Lemon Elbertas. She’d surgically slip the paring knife down the natural seam and then finish the slice up the other side to end at the stem depression. Then as she gently pulled the halves apart, the pit would usually fall right out. That allowed her to start the peeling at the indentation to avoid any signs of where she began or ended.
The bright yet deep yellow peaches were red where the pit grew giving an edible pink glow to the syrup. There they’d be on display on the shelf ready to be admired much as a captured golden sunset.
Peaches that weren’t up to her bottled peach half standard went into a bowl of citrus water. The best of those were sliced and made into fresh peach pies. The rest were diced and preserved as jam to enjoy over toast or waffles on wintry mornings.
For those of you who have planted a garden, have a producing fruit tree in your yard, hunt wildlife, or have friends who share their bounty, our library has quite a selection of how-to-preserve books and cookbooks. Browsing this section you can find manuals with instructions on cutting meats, making jerky, to preparing produce for freezing or bottling. There are also numerous books with recipes from traditional fixings, for special dietary requirements, and ideas to inspire more creative meals.
I recently brought home “Six Sisters’ STUFF: 52 menu plans, recipes, and ideas to bring families together.” My mouth was watering just reading through the chapter headings, which each actually is a dinner menu. Many are slow-cooker recipes that I wouldn’t have considered doable in my crock pot yet obviously cook up just fine. Interspersed are memories of fun dinners the authors experienced growing up and recommendations for carrying out something similar at your home. There’s even a list of items these cooks keep on hand in their pantry along with a “52 weeks of food storage” section to help you have on-hand foods to use when going to the store is just too tough. Besides the 52 dinner suggestions with recipes, the authors have included “52 Family Dinner Conversation Starters.”
So here I was this season with a purchased box of Lemon Elbertas. It was at that moment peeling peaches at the sink that I knew, although the bottled peaches were for our family’s consumption during the winter months when fresh fruit was not available, that my mother was doing this for her mother. This was a skill taught to her by her mother, and though Grandma had been gone since I was a toddler, Mother was continuing the canning tradition in her honor. Because my mother required us to help, we also learned to preserve fruit with beauty.
Even with this canning know-how, this year I made pies and cobblers, then sliced the rest, placed them in freezer bags, and will thaw them whenever needed through the coming non-producing months. For now, I’m trying out some of these wonderful recipes not only for foods but also for cultivating and preserving family traditions found in books at our library.
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