Boulder County, it’s time to preserve your peaches

While they reign supreme as the star of Colorado agriculture, our dear, sweet (and juicy) peaches are only available for two to three months if we’re lucky. This year, lucky we were: Palisade peaches made an early debut, likely due to warmer than usual temperatures. Paired with an exceptional year for both sweet and tart cherries, this July was one for the record books. But as we embrace the shift of the seasons from summer to fall, that means it’s time for a bittersweet farewell to our beloved peaches.

So as you head to the farmers market this week, we invite you to follow your heart and get that 20 pound case of peaches. While it may be an intimidating leap, we can speak from experience in saying that they can go surprisingly quickly. If you’re looking for some guidance on the best (and most practical) way to preserve your favorite Palisade and Paonia peaches, we’ve got you covered.

Behold, the power of your freezer!

Let us begin with the easier option: you can certainly freeze your peaches. All that is required is some time spent prepping your fruit, and a large freezer bag. It’s up to you on whether you want to leave the skin on your peaches or peel it off. Skinning a peach is much easier than it sounds: all you have to do is place it in boiling water for a minute or so, and then place it in an ice bath. Once it cools, you can easily remove the skin with just your fingers.

Frozen peaches will make for deliciously healthy smoothies for the rest of our warm weather days. Or, you can defrost them when it gets a bit cooler outside and you’re craving a taste of summer (which is obviously synonymous with peach pie). 

Heather Morton of Morton’s Organic Orchards picks a peach off of a tree in Palisade, Colorado.

Pie. Cobbler. Ice Cream. Whatever you decide, dessert is served.

Of course, you might not want to freeze all of your peaches. Speaking of pie, you might as well bake one now that you are the proud owner of too-many-peaches-to-count. It really only takes an handful of ingredients, and in our experience, can make for an excellent breakfast, lunch, and dinner when served with vanilla ice cream. If pie isn’t your thing, try the more accessible peach cobbler, or breakout that ice cream machine you were gifted eons ago to make a creamy peach ice cream.

Jam on homemade jam.

A peach jam. You can decide to can it, or simply store it in jars in your freezer until ready to defrost and eat. This recipe from our archives is good on everything: spread on toast, added to a charcuterie platter, or dollopped onto a ham sandwich. We hope you enjoy!

Recipe: Vanilla Peach Jam

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 pounds ripe peaches, peeled (blanch in hot water, cool, then rub the skin off with your fingers)
  • 3 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons dry pectin
  • 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 scraped vanilla bean, 1 Tbsp vanilla bean paste or 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 3/4 cup bourbon, divided (optional)

 Directions: 

  1. Pit and puree the peaches. Reserve a quarter or so if you like your jam chunky.
  2. Put both the pureed and chopped peaches in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
  3. Combine the two sugars and dry pectin and mix well. Combine with the lemon juice, 1/2 cup of the bourbon (optional), vanilla and butter.
  4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Add the remaining bourbon (optional) and let boil for a few seconds. If you are choosing not to use the bourbon or the jam gets too thick, just add some water. 
  5. Turn off heat and let mixture settle; skim foam from the surface. Test the jam on a cold plate to make sure it sets up; if not continue to cook and test until it does.
  6. Place in jars. Let it come to room temperature for at least six hours or overnight.
  7. Can with your own canning directions to store on a shelf for years. Or freeze — if you use bourbon it will not get grainy. Or store in the refrigerator for up to six months. 

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