Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sally Ketchum: In The Kitchen

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August 24, 2008

In the Kitchen: Do I dare eat a peach?

By SALLY KETCHUM

If Shakespeare wasn't thinking of peaches when he said, "the ripest fruit falls first," James Whitcomb Riley nailed the elusive spirit of the fruit when he wrote, "The ripest peach is the highest on the tree. But, it is T. S. Eliot that said it all with his middle age, yearning, Prufrock pondering, "Do I dare to eat a peach?"

Poetic associations aside, we all remember the mixed emotions of childhood when we sunk our teeth into that furry skin and juice spurted all over and down our chins. If I recall correctly, we usually bit into August's peaches outside on the sidewalk, back porch, or sitting on a swing made from a notched old board.

Peaches are interesting. Their traditional name, Persian Apple, is misleading. Although they arrived in Europe through Persia, peaches are native to China. In China, and China alone-- wild peace trees thrive. There, although the fruit is small, it is quite delicious. Even now, Chinese revere the fruit as a symbol of long life and exchange gifts of peaches on special occasions (China's Olympic gold divers must reek of peach!).

Peaches come in two types: freestone, the best for eating out of hand on those swings, and clingstone, usually used for commercial canning. The colors of the peaches skins-- every yellow, pink and red imaginable-- make them a favor subject for artists painting still lifes.

However, beauty is only skin deep. The colors have little to do with the flavor. When buying a peach, ripeness is important and an unbruised fruit should yield only slightly to the touch. Green spots and blemishes mean rapid deterioration. But, as with determining wine qualities, bouquet is critical. And, simply: Delicious fragrance means delicious fruit.

The flesh of peaches can be gold, yellow or white. We have a white-fleshed peach tree, "Champion White" from Miller Nurseries in Canandaigua, an orchard town nestled in the New York Finger Lakes. I cherish our tree more for the blossoms than for the peaches. The birds seem to reach the fruit before I think it's ripe, but the blossoms are worthy of those artists since the blossoms have poetic tension with dark burgundy centers surrounded by the palest, fragile pink. The white flesh is a light cream, and is, truly, special.

The Red New Haven peach, widely available in Michigan, is an early freestone, yellow-fleshed peach introduced by South Haven Experimental Station. It is almost free of fuzz and noted for its excellent flavor.

Like many other fruits, peaches appear in some of the new cocktails. It seems as if bartenders (coctologists, now) are competing for fruit bling. Nevertheless the traditional White Carnation, the Belmont Stakes drink (parallel to Mint Juleps for the Derby), is a delightful peachy drink. (Recipes below)

The "new" Belmont cocktail is a mixture of whiskey, sherry, and lemon with some other options, orange or cranberry juice, water, etc. On one occasion with guests, I opted for soda water. He-Who-Must-Be-Fed poured generously from the soda bottle onto the ice in my glass. Thirsty, I guzzled a large and rather impolite amount down and practically flew from my chair. HWMBF had poured from the bottle of sugar water for the humming birds! Although the cap was marked, he had covered it with the palm of his hand as he unscrewed it. Immediately our guests broke into laughter, but I think they were suddenly suspicious of the sweetness in their own White Carnations.

I am eager to serve White Carnations with the next brunch I have, brunch being my favorite meal for company, along with suppers after croquet bouts. The peach and orange flavor will go well with Fuzzy Navel Cake which I bake for morning meals. This cake recipe calls for the cake to be glazed, but I skip the glaze now. Early one early morning, I had it cooling on the counter, before glazing, and a party of young adult houseguests awakened and came into the kitchen for coffee. Seeing, and no doubt catching the peachy scent of the cake, (It's aroma is marvelous.), they tore it apart with their fingers as one does with Monkey Bread to eat with their first cup of coffee. Since then I have served Fuzzy Navel Cake as a coffee cake and have skipped glazing it. It is rich enough. Next spring, watch for the blanket of white carnations around the Belmont's winner's neck.

White Carnations

2 oz. vodka

1/2 oz. Peach schnapps

2 oz. Orange juice

Soda water

Splash of cream (Sally used whipping cream.)

Crushed ice

Stir fluids together; pour over ice in highball glasses. Garnish with orange slice.

Serves 2.

Belmont Stakes Cocktail (since 1998)

11/2 oz. Seagrams 7

3/4 oz. Harvey's Bristol Crème Sherry

1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

1 oz. Simple syrup (50:50 sugar and water, boiled 5 minutes)

(You may substitute 1 oz. of Sweet and Sour mix or the Lemon and simple sugar.)

11/2 oz. fresh orange juice

11/2 oz. cranberry juice

31/2 c. fresh peach pulp

21/2 c. fresh orange juice

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. fresh lemon juice

Mix fluids and pour over crushed ice in highball glasses.

Peachy-Orange Sherbet

Peel and pit peaches. Cut in to chunks and whirl in a blender until pureed. Mix together the peach puree, orange juice, sugar and lemon juice. Pour the mixture in an ice cream churn and freeze according to ice cream maker directions.

-- Citrus Lovers Cookbook

Fuzzy Navel Cake

Vegetable oil spray for misting pans

Flour for dusting pans

1 package (18.25 oz.) plain yellow cake mix

1 package (5.1 oz.) vanilla instant pudding mix

3/4 c. peach schnapps

1/2 c. fresh orange juice or from carton

4 large eggs

1/2 t. orange extract

Glaze: 1 c. confectioners' sugar, sifted; 4 T. orange juice, 2 T. peach schnapps.

(Note: If you use a cake mix with pudding, eliminate the pudding in the ingredients.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚. Lightly mist a 12-cup bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, and then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, the pudding mix, peach schnapps, oil, orange juice, eggs, and orange extract in a large mixing bowl. Stop the machine and blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look thin and smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it only a serving platter.

Mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix well. Poke holes in the cake with a skewer and spoon glaze over the warm cake, drizzling down its sides. Cool completely before slicing.

-- Anne Bryn. "The Cake (Mix) Doctor

Sally Ketchum lives and writes from northern Michigan. She notes that this year cardinals are the major attraction around the bird feeder. They love oranges, Ketchum notes, and especially peaches. "Just now a brilliantly colored male is feeding the family's chicks, and they are larger than he is!" she writes. Sally can be reached at ketchum1985@gmail.com or through The Record-Eagle.

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