We still have plenty more stone fruit coming your way but now is a good time to start thinking ahead to January and beyond when you really start craving the taste of our peaches and nectarines. We freeze our fruit throughout the entire summer for making our conserves, pastries, and more throughout the year. It’s a great way to extend the summers flavor throughout the whole year.
It’s is a great time to start freezing for the winter when our stone fruit is still bountiful and in its peak of deliciousness. As CSA members, you can add-on 10lb flats of peaches or nectarines (or plums/pluots for that matter) to be delivered with your box. Ten pound flats are $30 each.
We’ve tested out a few recipes this weekend for freezing peaches for you. The first comes from NW Edible Life’s blog and is the simplest method we could find. You simply rinse and dry whole peaches, place them on a sheet pan, put them in the freezer for a day, then transfer the whole peach to freezer bags. You can leave them on the countertop (or in your sink in a colander to thaw). The skin will peel right off. You could easily use these for smoothies, or sauces in the winter. To read the blog post with more details visit: http://www.nwedible.com/lazy-preservation-at-its-best-freezing/
Method two is a little more involved but will yield for more flexibility in later use. It’s a four step process that requires blanching or peeling the peaches, then slicing and rinsing, a quick water lemon juice bath for color preservation, and freezing on sheet trays before they get stored in freezer bags. It’s a little more involved but you’ll have pre-sliced peaches that won’t clump together with color in tact that will be all ready for pies, cobblers, smoothies, sauces, or even jam. It will take about an hour to do 10 lbs. of peaches using this method. You can find more detailed directions for this method at: http://www.jadelouisedesigns.com/how-to-freeze-peaches/
With a little extra effort you could be enjoying Frog Hollow peaches all winter long! To add-on a flat of our fruit, just log into your account and go to the fresh fruits and veggies section. Remember the deadline for adding onto next week’s box is Friday at 11:59pm. Happy freezing!