Delicious Peaches in January

When I decided to spend the summer working in Boston as a recipe tester, I knew that I would likely be foregoing one of my favorite summer activities: peach picking. I wasn't due home until late august, when there is a chance you may still get a crop of peaches, but no assurance. Lucky for me, summer was a late season this year and I was able to relish in an afternoon at my favorite orchard: Yingst Ranch in Littlerock. Yes, you read that right, Littlerock, as in way the heck out in the middle of nowhere Littlerock off the 14 freeway. It is a trek and certainly a commitment to do, but I also happen to have family in Palmdale, so I do the requisite visit in the same trip and not only do I have my lovely peaches, but I have done my familial duty for the month! And not to overly toot the pick-your-own method, but they cost 95 cents a pound if you do the grunt work. Um, yes please and thank you for your business.



I happened to get extremely lucky this year, and Yingst also had a september snow peach that just came to fruition on the trees, so this past weekend, I headed out to spend some time with relatives and visit my orchard. I picked to my heart's content and came home with 10 pounds of luciousness to do with what I will. And I am going to freeze them, so that when my peach hankering starts emerging in mid january, all I have to do is defrost (slowly, in the fridge) and voila, sumptious summer peaches at my fingertips. There is a way to freeze peaches that prevents them from breaking down and aquiring that frozen taste, and it's actually quite simple and takes only a bit of time to do. It's a wonderful treat to be able to have the orchard peach taste out of season, hopefully this method will be used far and wide.


2 pounds of ripe peaches
4 cups of either simple syrup (recipe below) or any of the following: white grape juice, peach nectar diluted to 50% with water, apple juice.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat.
Fill a large bowl with water and ice.
Score bottoms of peaches with an X using a small paring knife.
Drop peaches (carefully) into boiling water and submerge for 1 minute. Remove peaches and plunge into ice water bath to stop them from cooking.
Peel off the peach skins (ahhhh, now you see what the quick boiling was for)
Cut peaches in half, remove pits and slice each half into 4 slices.
Using either 1 large ziplock bag: Pour liquid of choice into bag and add peach slices. Zip up tight and freeze on side.
Or 4 sandwich size zip lock bags: Pour 1 cup of liquid into each bag and divide peach slices evenly among bags. Freeze on sides.



Simple syrup:Bring 3 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar to a boil over high heat, stirring often. Turn off heat and let sit for 20 minutes. Cool completely. Should yield approximately 4 cups.