I pride myself on being an adventurous eater. I love to try different ethnic cuisines, from Ethiopian — which is really outstanding in my hometown of DC — to Filipino to Lithuanian. (The Lithuanians put sour cream on everything, which makes me wonder: am I part Lithuanian?) I love organ meats, from liver and kidneys to rich, unctuous sweetbreads. And you all know: if the vendors at the Oak Park farmers’ market are selling some random crop that a generation ago they would have fed to the pigs and charging $5 a bunch, I will buy three, thank you very much.
But, here’s my dirty little secret, I don’t like most fruits. It’s true. I like almost every vegetable out there, but it is easier for me to list the fruits that I do like than the one I don’t like. I will eat: strawberries; raspberries; blackberries; tart, firm apples and green grapes. That may be it. No juicy peaches, no ice-cold watermelon, no ruby-red cherries, and certainly no oranges. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.
I think, in the case of fruit, my aversion is more about the texture than the taste because, while I really will not pick up a peach and bite into it, I will happily eat a peach cobbler or a peach pie. Same goes for blueberries. In fact, I made a lovely lemon blueberry buckle last week and ate several servings, some of them at breakfast. And as you might have guessed from all the canning that I do, once fruit is turned into jam, all bets are off.
My family, by contrast adores fruit, and so we always have plenty in the house. J.R. is pretty much true to his year-round favorites: bananas, grapes and “big watermelon.” This time of year, however, my husband and Zuzu are in heaven eating cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines, which are all grown nearby in Michigan’s prodigious fruit orchards and brought to our farmers’ market every week. But, if I am going to partake of any of that gorgeous fruit, I am going to have to bake with it, or can it.
Fruit desserts are fun, and I have gotten a lot of inspiration from one of my favorite 2009 holiday presents, a copy of the beautiful cookbook Rustic Fruit Desserts — source of the lemon blueberry buckle that I mentioned above. But, to be honest, my husband and I are always watching our weight and Zuzu still can’t eat any dessert made with egg or dairy, so I always fall back on canning to save me when we are drowning in fruit. (Block that metaphor!)
Last Saturday, I bought an enormous basket of peaches at the market before I realized that my husband would be away for the half the week. Peaches are terribly perishable, so I quickly started putting them up. First, I made a pretty basic peach jam flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg and a healthy swig of brandy. The flavor is terrific but the jam has a bit of a soft set despite using pectin. I’m not sure why. But it will be lovely swirled into yogurt or on top of ice cream. But even after making the jam, I still had over a dozen peaches growing old, growing old. Wearing the bottoms of their trousers rolled.
So, after flipping through my canning cookbooks, I decided to try my hand at a peach salsa. The recipe I picked called for vast quantities of peaches plus some red onion, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, garlic, honey, vinegar, fresh cilantro, cumin and cayenne. (Naturally I had to go out and buy half of those things, but it was worth it to use up the peaches.) I added some lime zest and a squeeze of lime juice because, well, I had half a lime left over from dinner.
The salsa turned out to be sweet and quite fiery. And just look at those gorgeous colors! The only sad part is, to make a salsa shelf-stable, it has to be cooked. This mixture was boiled gently for about 5 minutes in the pot and then processed for another 15 minutes in my boiling-water-bath canner. So those bright colors faded and blended together. But it still looks quite pretty in the jars.
I’m not sure the best way to serve a spicy fruit salsa like this. I imagine that it would be terrific over fish, but my husband won’t eat fish. (He’s actually the picky eater in the family despite my aversion to fresh fruit.) It would also make a nice accompaniment to a cheese tray, but then again, I say everything would make a nice accompaniment to a cheese tray. Any other ideas? If you have a really terrific suggestion, you may just find a jar of peach salsa in your mailbox one of these days….
Also, why do you think Eliot picked a peach for that line in ”The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?” Do you think it is because there is something especially sensual about a peach with its delicate skin and heady perfume? Or is it because the peach’s juiciness makes it messy and potentially embarrassing to eat?
Lastly, if you are planning to make a recipe that calls for peeling a large amount of peaches, I highly recommend this soft-skin peeler — wow, does that sound dirty? Uh, all innuendo aside, my soft-skin peeler was a new purchase this year and after two peach recipes, I am sold on its usefulness. No more blanching the peaches in boiling water to get the skin off, which saves a lot of time and a dirty pot. Oh, everything is dirty today!
Well, I suppose you could add some sour cream to it and call it a dressing (or dip)! Sometimes I put salsa in salad (this chunky homemade type, not Old El Paso…) when I am shy ingredients. You could make chicken taco salad!
And btw, my sister is married to a Lithuanian and it is true they really do put sour cream on everything. You should have her tell you about Kuchas (or however you spell it) – the traditional xmas dinner that involves like 12 dishes of fish, most of them pretty icky and all of them involving sour cream.
Well, how icky can anything be with sour cream on top, right? I think if calories and fat were suddenly a non-issue, the first thing I would do is start dipping potato chips into sour cream. Yum!
That salsa sounds good! Like the PP, I might just use it as a dip (but without the sour cream). I’m thinking on crackers it would be a variation of jam. Or, while I don’t like pork (and don’t know if you serve it), it would probably go well with pork or ham, as those are meats that I think of going with sweet fruits, like apple(sauce) or pineapple.
Yes, we don’t have pork in our house, much to my chargrin.
Pork, but I know you guys don’t usually eat pork. I like sweet salsa in tacos — some stewed chicken or carne asada would be nice with that. Or duck and lamb both pair nicely with sweetish things.
I’d also pour it over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers (though not to Zuzu, sadly). Actually, that’s the first thing I’d do with it. And now I want to make peach salsa.
Yes, cream cheese and crackers would be an excellent pairing.
I think the salsa would be quite lovely on grilled chicken – maybe even chicken kabobs. Also as a standalone dip served with cucumbers or celery.
My 8 year old hates fruit – every type. She calls herself a no-fruitatarian. I know that she would LOVE hearing from an adult who never outgrew her fruit aversion!
Yes, I remember you writing about your eldest’s aversion to fruit. I can relate!