Food Connections: Peach Recipe Round-Up

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Peach Recipe Round-Up

I got my CSA from Rama Farm-- a double box of peaches--last week. I had to work fast dehydrating and freezing so we could take a long weekend in Vancouver.

Tom and I drove. Vancouver, B.C. is just a few hours away. On Granville Island, I was amazed at the size of the Okanagan peaches we saw at the market. The Granville market is a bit like Pike Place Market in Seattle, but not as crowded.

We ate pastries, bagels and fresh fruit, like this Dragon fruit.

The seeds are a bit like kiwi seeds, but the flavor seemed bland and boring, like it was picked green and maybe ripened artificially. Also Dragon fruit isn't locally grown. The flavor is nothing compared to fresh Northwest peaches.

Travelers aren't allowed to bring fresh Canadian fruit or vegetables across the border into the U.S. The official reason is too many plant diseases and insects cross borders. This is one way to slow down unwanted diseases. I learned the hard way. My Canadian apples were discarded at the border a few years ago. Don't try to bring fruit across; gorge on local fruit in B.C while you're there.

We walked through Stanley Park, hiked to Chinatown, Gastown and Robson Street. We took a water taxi to Granville Island and checked out the Wooden Boat Show. These vintage boats were amazing. I loved the replica of the Viking boat and the restored steam powered tugboat from the 1920s.

We stayed at a cool hotel with free wifi and gated parking.

I learned the value of checking out reviews first when we ate at this not-so-great restaurant where the manager had chip on her shoulder the size of a boulder. Snubbed by her one day but the next day, this was just a blip on our radar. One experience doesn't ruin an otherwise beautiful long weekend.

Moonlight streaming through the windows.

One of my all-time favorites is a Peach-Huckleberry Crisp

Be sure to freeze some peaches for later. Check out these tips for freezing peaches or nectarines.

My favorte way to preserve the harvest is dehydrating. You don't need to get fussy like this to dehydrate them. I wash them, but I leave the skin on. Then I put them onto trays that have been preheated to 125F. They dehydrate at that temperature for about 5 minutes, then I reduce the temperature and dehydrate until they are still soft. I refrigerate or freeze these. You can continue to dry them out, if you don't mind dehydrated peaches on the crisp side.