Peaches have started ripening on the tree I planted in our back yard 3 years ago! WOOHOO!! Yesterday Sweetie and I picked a nice bunch and started freezing them. We do the "X" in the end, boiling water for 2-3 minutes, ice bath for 2-3 minutes, skin 'em, cut into quarters, put on a bit of sugar and into the freezer bag....when they're frozen (like today), I'll vacuum seal the bag and we'll be done with these. We only got about 3/4 of the ones we picked yesterday into the freezer. We ran out of ice for the ice bath! We ended up with 6 1.5lb packages and 4 1 lb packages. Sweetie said "I'll never eat peaches from a can or from the store again!" I think the next time we pick, which will be tomorrow probably, it'll be time for some spicy sweet peach salsa. Yummy over pork chops, pork roast, with chips, however we want. Yesterday's "harvest" probably got less than 20% of the peaches on the tree....and we're beating the birds to them this year. Kajun
Fresh fruit is a beautiful thing. Although I do not like peaches, the fuzz bothers me like crazy, I do love the taste. A guilty pleasure of mine as a kid was peaches in syrup. Nowadays, it's high fructose corn syrup and other chemicals, so I do not partake. Freshly canned peaches in nonrefined sugar syrup from home would be my avenue now.
Was excited two years ago with a beautiful crop of peaches. Just as they started turning they all rotted with in a couple days. Found out I had been infected with "Brown Rot". Lost the whole crop and again last year. May have to remove the infected trees if spraying does not work. Happy your trees are producing well. We put up a bit this week and will add to them shortly with bought peaches if necessary. Putting up "succotash" and black berries today.
I love peaches, but don't have the room for a tree. I know what it is to wait and wait for fruit. I set some high bush blueberry bushes in a couple years back and I started with fairly mature plants not the 6" high ones from the garden center. Finally, the bushes are heavy with berries this year. Now that I know my area is good for blueberries I'll be planting more !
