Celebrate Green Blog

One thing I have yet to do is to attempt to can food. Every summer I say I’m going to learn to can tomato sauce or fruit preserves, but it never seems to end up happening. I do, however, have a way to preserve some of the fresh peaches that are abundant right now. I stopped at  a roadside stand yesterday and bought a huge basket of ripe peaches for $3.50. There were enough peaches in the basket to make filling for four pies.

Today, I made a peach pie with filling that is cooked before the pie is made, and I’m going to take the remaining peaches this weekend and make more filling to freeze for a couple of pies later.

A really good peach pie at my favorite farm market costs $12.99. This pie is just as good, and it probably cost me about $3.00 to make. That’s quite a savings, and I know exactly what ingredients are going into the pie. The peaches I bought were from a farm that uses sustainable practices although it doesn’t have organic certification. Conventional peaches are high in pesticide residue. If you’re not using organic, you’ll want to know the farming practices the peach grower uses.

I’m going to give you the recipe for the peach pie filling. You can use your favorite crust to make a peach pie or tart with it. I adapted this recipe from an award winning recipe I found on Kitchen Parade. There are more steps involved in making this filling than some other fillings that you might have made in the past, but it’s so worth it. The extra steps also make it possible to freeze the filling to be used for a peach pie in December.

Ingredients

• 8 peaches, peeled and sliced into 10 slices each (see tip below for easy peeling)
• 1 c sugar
• 4 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 3 tsp butter

Directions

1. Combine sliced peaches, sugar, flour and spices in a large saucepan and allow to sit, with no heat, for about a half hour until the peaches have given up a lot of juice.
2. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon to a colander placed over a bowl and allow the rest of the juice to drip into the bowl. Combine that juice with the juice in the saucepan. Bring juice in the saucepan to a boil, then lower to medium-low heat and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. The juice will thicken to a nice syrup.
3. Add peaches to the syrup, increase heat to medium, and continue to cook for another ten minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Remove from heat, add vanilla and stir in butter until it melts. Allow to cool completely.
5. At this point you can use it to make a pie or put it in a freezer proof container to freeze for a later time.
6. To make more than one batch to feeze, just double (or triple, etc) all ingredients, then divide evenly.

Tip for peeling peaches

Boil a pot of water large enough to fit all your peaches. Drop peaches in the boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Remove from water immediately. Skins should slide off easily using just your fingers. Very easy.

Image: tailw.ag

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Robin Shreeves didn’t particularly like to cook until she started paying attention to how the food she feeds her family affects the environment. Once she started experimenting with fresh, organic and local foods, her outlook on food and cooking changed dramatically. When she’s not writing the eco-friendly food blog for Mother Nature Network or attending to her two personal blogsA Little Greener Every Day and South Jersey Locavore , she can often be found in the kitchen, playing with the food that she prepares for her husband and two boys.