Ah, the peach. The sensitive, juicy, magnificent August fruit that fills me with joy, excitement, and anticipation! No, seriously! You don’t get it? Then I guess you have never had the privilege of digging your face into a freestone peach from the Creston Valley. Though it brings me sadness that I am not posting about the freestone, but rather the redhaven peach, it’s still friggin’ delicious.
One sunny, alluring August morning, my husband and I set off for the beautiful Creston Valley to pick some peaches and apricots from one of our favourite farms: P + T Chopko. This is my favourite time of year because the orchards and local fruitstands are in full boom with plenty of perfectly imperfect produce ranging from eggplants and potatoes, to peaches and apricots! Creston has an abundance of beautiful food, and offer many U-Pick and We-Pick farms.
This was our second time at P + T Chopko; I picked cherries there with a friend last summer. This was all about the peaches though. And boy, oh boy, did we get what we came for. Thirty-two pounds of peaches and apricots, and the orchard was just bursting with ripe fruits for the picking.
And now I had 32 lbs of peaches and apricots… did I think this through? The answer is YES. YES, I THOUGHT IT THROUGH. Because food waste is a thing avoided in our household (and a huge global problem – hello!). It would honestly break my heart if I had to waste one of these peaches…
Here is what I did with 32 lbs of peaches and apricots so they wouldn’t go to waste:
- gave them away to really awesome people (sharing is caring)
- froze a few jars full for smoothies, etc.
- made peach syrup
- made peach cobbler
- dried the apricots
- peach oatmeal smoothie
- ate a lot of peaches
And of course we stopped at my favourite local fruitstand, Wloka Farms, for some eggplants and garlic, because a) they’re awesome.
Peach season is ongoing until September, so I will probably go back to the same farm and get some more. Did you get your peach fix yet this summer? What are your favourite ways to use up those delicious spheres? Please share here!
The Zero Journey 
I love peaches and nectarines!!! Last Summer I had an abundance of both so I cut some up and put them in jars in the freezer (smoothies), pureed some and froze (I defrost this and mix it with yogurt for flavoured yoghurt), peach cobbler, peach/oat muffins, peach/almond cakes, I thought about making a jam or chutney but didn’t get round to it. I sliced and dehydrated some- i prefered the nectarines dehydrated. I have only tried this with mango but my favourite thing in Winter is to pull out frozen mango, put it in the vitamix with yogurt and have ice cream like consistency frozen yogurt that tastes of Summer. Oh I miss Summer. I am waiting for Spring to come visiting here in Australia!!
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Mmmmmm I love fresh summer fruit, especially peaches and nectarines! It was fun making stuff with them 🙂 I’m hoping to go back to the same farm and get some more!
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I just picked up some peaches and they were delicious. I’m jealous you can pick your own. Thanks for posting on the #WasteLessWednesday blog post.
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Love peaches! So lucky you have a place to pick your own nearby! (And peach cobbler is the best).
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