It’s Peach Season in Georgia

We are very  lucky! My roommate’s Dad brought us a box of peaches from William L. Brown Farms in Montezuma, Georgia. The Mays have had longstanding family connections with the Brown family. I believe William L. was related to Mrs. May, and at the end of every June we used to visit Mr. Brown’s roadside market to buy peaches while Mrs. May visited with William L. What great memories!

 

 

Processing Fresh Picked Peaches

When the Brown’s pickers harvest the peaches, they are not quite ripe. This is a good thing because the peaches are fragile when ripe and not easy to transport. So, over the years, we have learned how to process fresh peaches so that we have ripe, juicy fruit every time we want a peach.

First, you can always let the peaches ripen naturally. I do this by putting a layer of newspaper on a clean counter and putting a layer of peaches on the newspaper. Then, I put another layer of newspaper on top and put another layer of peaches. The important step is that the peaches don’t touch other peaches. I check the peaches a few times a day and remove the ripe ones, putting them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. This can be a square plastic box or a sealed bag.

Speeding Up Peach Ripening

If you want to eat ripe peaches sooner, then get a brown paper bag. Place peaches in the bag, again without touching. Seal the bag. The gases released from the peaches into the bag will speed up the ripening process. Here is the sealed brown bag I used:

Again, check the peaches a few times a day. As soon as the peach is softer to the touch and you can smell a real peach scent, your peaches are ripe. If you are not going to eat the peaches right away, put them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. The cold temperature will stop the ripening process so that you don’t end up with over-ripe fruit.

Peaches keep well in the refrigerator, but we also freeze peaches for smoothies. We slice the peaches, place the slices on a cookie sheet in the freezer, freeze the peaches, and then bag the slices. This is an easy way to have loose frozen slices when you want them.

By the way, John Wright, owner of Bee Wild, also sells organic, local, seasonal honey at two farmer’s markets spring through fall, details here: http://216.172.168.215/~beewild1/buy-organic-seasonal-local/ On Tuesday afternoons, you can find him at the Atlanta Road Farmer’s Market in Smyrna which is mentioned in the above post. On Thursday mornings through lunch breaks, John sells our wild-crafted gourmet honey at Peachtree Center.

Again, I urge you to support the efforts of local farmers and beekeepers who sell you real food by buying from them. We always appreciate you trying our honey. You can find our products here: http://216.172.168.215/~beewild1/products/