I’m the kind of person who comes up with an idea and
executes it. Consequently, I have very few items on my bucket list. I’ve tried
to work at adding things but they are either fairly expensive (a trip to India)
or improbable (living in California).
I recently realized that every summer for as long I can
remember, I regret that I did not eat more peaches, corn and tomatoes in the
last days of summer. I decided I did not want to go to my final resting place
not having eaten enough peaches.
Yes, you read that right. This year I added to my bucket list: Eat a peach
every day for 30 days before summer ends.
Peaches are meant to be consumed out of hand, juice
dribbling into a napkin. As far as I’m concerned, almost anything one can do to a
peach ruins it.
Canned peaches taste to me like slippery tennis balls.
Frozen peaches aren’t fragrant. Peach iced tea is tasty but it doesn’t
approximate the taste of a fresh peach. The closest I’ve come to real peach
taste in a peach product is a nectar drink that I first came across in Greece,
called Premium Fresh peach nectar in a cardboard container from Philicon. At 130 calories for eight ounces, it contains water, peach puree, and sugar and is actually a product of Bulgaria.
In my quest, I found it was really worth it to buy the $2.50
(ouch) a pound giant peaches. They are like the steak of the fruit world. So
full of juice and fiber, after you eat one, you’re full.
To eat a peach every day, you have to buy a peach every day,
or every other day, so they are really ripe. Peaches are best stored at 32
degrees, as they continue to ripen after being picked from the tree. I prefer
them room temperature.
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| An illustration from the 1800s. |
Getting peaches home every day can turn into a project. I
bought some at my local Korean grocery store. I bought some from the community
supported agriculture stand at the Hester Street Fair, trucked in from farms on
the East End of Long Island. I bought some from a stand in Chinatown. The peach is native to
China, and the country is still the world’s largest producer of the fruit.
I told my daughter about my quest and since she lives in the same building, across
the hall from me, I sometimes came home to find a peach sitting atop the doorknob
of the front door of my apartment.
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| A surprise! |
Peaches are divided into clingstones and
freestones, depending on whether or not the flesh sticks to the stone. White flesh are very sweet with little acidity. Yellow-fleshed
peaches are sweet but can have an acidic tang. Europeans use the white peaches to make the Italian Proseco-based drink called Bellini.
I mostly ate peaches plain. I wash them with Environne Fruit & Vegetable Wash, which removes pesticides, waxes and chemicals used in crop production. My friend Jill uses it in her kitchen. She runs a weblog tracking innovations in technology, practices and
materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and
more sustainable future. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.
During my 30 days, I once made a salad of peach chunks, red
lettuce and ginger sesame salad dressing. Chicken, and chow mien noodles, could also
be added. I came across a recipe for a peach salsa, combining the fruit
with kiwi, strawberries, lime juice, green onion, cilantro and jalapeno pepper.
Maybe. I mostly ate the peaches out of hand. I’m not a fan of any recipe that
cooks a peach, since I think heating a peach ruins what makes it great; the fragrance
and the subtle flavor. So no cobbler, no peach pie.
I’m about three-quarters of the way through my quest. Have I
gotten tired of peaches? Surprisingly, I have not. But after 23 days, I’m almost good
till next summer.
Wink&Flip
