The Farmer's Wife

I can never get enough peaches in the summer time. This column is full of delicious recipes for peaches. Though eating them fresh and plain is just as delicious as well.

September 1983

Biting into a juicy, tree- ripened peach is one of the remembered joys of summer. We are lucky to live close to plenty of good peach orchards and to have a bountiful supply.

A family can jump in the car, drive to the orchard and go peach picking. It is fun to select the plumpest and smoothest specimens. Coming home with peach-filled kids plus a couple of bushels in the car trunk they are all set for some choice eating.

If you can’t get around to eating all of them, fresh peaches freeze well. They are easy to skin by just scalding for a couple of minutes and immersing in ice water. The skins will slip off easily. Scalding too long ruins their color, so work quickly and do small batches at a time.

I like to put a few in small plastic bags and open them on a winter night. They make a delightful bedtime snack served while still slightly frozen with a drizzle of light cream.

Old- Fashioned Peach Pie

5 cups sliced peaches

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 tablespoons butter

Pastry for 2 crust pie

Roll out bottom crust. Combine all ingredients. Pour into crust. Roll out top crust. Cut slits. Moisten crust’s rim. Press on top crust. Carefully pinch edges. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes on bottom rack of oven. If top isn’t brown then raise to top rack for five minutes. Serve while still slightly warm.

Note: 2 tablespoons of red hots instead of the cinnamon gives a nice pink color.

Fresh Peach Cobbler

Pastry for 2-crust pie

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

5 cups sliced peaches

2 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Roll pastry. Line 9-inch pan. Roll top crust. Mix sugar and cornstarch. Add water and butter. Cook until thick. Stir in peaches. Cool. Pour into crust. Sprinkle with flour and spices. Cover with top crust. Bake at 425° for 35 minutes.

Peach Dumplings

Pastry for 2-crust pie

Syrup:

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

3 tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Filling:

6 peaches, peeled, halved & seeded

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoon butter

Roll pastry 1/8 – inch thick. Cut into six 7-inch squares. Bring syrup ingredients to boil. Boil 3 minutes. Put whole peach in center of each pastry square. Fill center with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Dot with 1 teaspoon butter. Bring points of pastry over peach and pinch together. Pour 1 cup of the hot syrup in pan. Put in dumplings. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes. Serve warm with rest of syrup poured over dumplings. Cream is nice to pour over, too.

Glazed Peach Pie

6 cups sliced peaches

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup orange juice

Pie shell, baked

Sweetened whipped cream

Mash enough of the peaches to make 1 cupful. Reserve rest of peaches. Combine sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Stir in orange juice and mashed peaches. Cook on top of stove or in microwave until thickened. Spread half over the bottom of pie shell. Arrange the sliced peaches over glaze. Spoon rest of glaze over peaches. Chill 3 hours. Top with whipped cream.

Pecan Peach Pie

4 cups sliced peaches

¾ cup sugar, white

3 tablespoons flour

1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

3 tablespoon butter

½ cup chopped pecans

1 unbaked 9” pie shell

Combine sugar, peaches, the 3 tablespoons flour and lemon juice. Mix well. Combine brown sugar, the ¼ cup flour and butter. Cut in butter with pastry blender. Add pecans. Spread ½ of this mixture in bottom of unbaked pie shell. Arrange peach mixture over this. Top with remaining pecan mixture.

Bake at 400° for 40 minutes. Chill. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.