Welcome to The Cherry On Top.
I started this blog, last year around this time and never got around to finishing it. As I'm currently picking up the fruit that falls from my weinbergpfirsich (wine mountain peach) tree (I know, right?!), I'm cutting out all of the nasties, chopping and either using immediately in oatmeal, yogurt or a baked goodie or I'm freezing them in different sized zip locks. Of course, you can can them as well.
Last year, we had thousands of peaches. I gave most of them away. This year they were very sparse. We rarely pick our fruit, letting it stay on the trees. Otherwise, I'd never stop cooking, canning, etc. One of these days, I should go around our tiny yard and take pictures so you can see just how much food you can grow on a tiny space. Prices these days make this a very smart option, right?
We do nothing with our food in regards to fertilizers and pesticides and I mean nothing. The most I'll do is pick off pests or possibly spray the crap out of them with a mix of dish soap and water. The end. We are inundated with chemicals all around and on us, the heck if I'll add even more.
Most of our fruit is imperfect and we still have way more than enough. We just cut out the brown spots, scoop out the worms and eggs, rinse and prepare as necessary. We ain't dead yet. Hehehe...
As you can see, these are small peaches with a dark pink to purple flesh. Our peaches are fairly sour. You can enjoy them raw, but the skin and the slightly sour taste isn't all that delectable. Once, on a walk, I picked up one of these peaches that was laying in the road and it was delicious. So, not all trees are created equal. Pictured above is our plums as well. We hardly had any at all this year. My mother told me they skip years in regards to yields.
Our cherries were the most insane, this year. We've had our two, small trees for nearly 20 years and this was the first time we had more than a bowl full. On a little side bar, as we were planting our trees, several neighbours warned us that they would never grow, but y'all know how stubborn I am. I guess I should blog them and all of the stuff the guys did with our huge harvest while I was doing my Scandinavian tour. We literally had buckets and buckets full.
As I mentioned, most of our fruit gets "ruined" from pests. It's easy to find the entry point. The little critters go right to the center or core of the fruit because that's where all of the good stuff is which is new information to me. I'll also have to write about that sometime more in detail or you can look into it yourself. Apricot pits, grape seeds and so many other fruit centers have almost magical type properties that are just great for us.
If I want to give away extras, I put them in recycled bags and pots and place them out front with a "free" sign. They never last! I guess I might piss off some neighbors that are trying to sell theirs, but I don't have enough room for some of our harvests and the fruit is rarely perfect. So why would I charge for that?
I'm getting another cook book together, Ultimate Oatmeal. Above, is an image of the peach, apple and plum. They're all ready about the same time which is usually end September, but this year the fruit was falling in August. The apple or a banana is a great way to add extra sweetness to your recipe. Oatmeal is a favorite of mine. You can put nearly any kind of fruit and or fruitable in there.
A decent harvest after a night of rainfall.
Peach butter! Even better than jam?
Below, is the hubs with one of our apples. Take a look down our driveway. It isn't really all that long. Pictured, you can see 3 apple and two pear trees. Growing in between are raspberries, a bay leaf plant, mint, pumpkin, herbs of all kinds and somehow, there's a fig tree growing there now, too? I have no idea how that happened, but I'm over the moon about it. We've been trying to grow a fig tree for years and God only knows how the heck a fig tree is growing in the middle of the brick driveway? Divine intervention?
Bare with me through this. I'll have a sweet design for ya, a list to refer to and a lot of links to get you going on your whopping harvest.
Zip Locks Rock!
Pictured are apples, but I do this with all of our extra fruit and veg. Pack up your extras in different sized bags and freeze. If you want to bake a cake, you'll need a bigger bag, but if you only need a bit for some yogurt or oatmeal, you'll need the little guys. In another blog about having too many tomatoes, I shared the idea of putting tomato paste in ice cube trays, then once frozen, empty them into little ziplocks like this. Gee! I could have sworn I blogged about green tomatoes? They are crazy sweet and when mixed with red tomatoes and even a bit of the leaves from the plant, they are beyond delish. Cook'm, first or pickle them. I mentioned it in this blog which you may love.
Let's move on to our list and links so you can get going! I found a list, but after reading a few recipes saw it wasn't whole food. Darn! Y'all do not need to be eating food from boxes and premixes. Ugh! I am not at all a fan of mixing fruit with meat and vegetables, but a lot of people apparently put peaches in salsas, on the grill and on sandwiches. Call me old fashioned! You can find those recipes on your own. Hehehe...
Cobbler (We also do crumbles which are crazy easy.)
Peach Bellini (My mom's favorite. You could just add your peach juice to cava, prosecco...)
Peach Ice Cream and Sorbet
Jam
Oatmeal
Yogurt (blend plain yogo or kefir with peaches)
Cakes, Muffins, Breads and Pancakes
Fruit Salads
Granola (I dice fruit, heap on yogo or kefir and top with granola.)
Peach Iced Tea (Super yum!)
Peach Fritters (???)
Cinnamon Sugar Baked Peaches (Sounds delish!)
Peach juice and wine (Check out how easy it is to juice on this blog.)
Goodness, y'all! I just did a search in Pinterest and I can't wait to get to the kitchen.
Here's your free design. I downloaded the clipart from Design Bundles. They've got so many awesome designs, including those in our shop. Here's a few of my favorite fall stuffs from our shop, Kreative Design Studio.
Enjoy 2 free printable or digital papers and a pretty peach tag.
Seasonal goodies from my shop:
Thanks for hanging with The Cherry!