‘Tis the season for Peaches!

This is the very first year I have harvested peaches from trees in my yard that sprouted from pits! It’s taken 6 or more years for them to grow big enough to bear fruit.

The pie pictured was made from several of the peaches off of those trees plus a few purchased to round out the recipe. Delicious!

Peach trees bloom a beautiful bubblegum pink. This year we had a mild spring with no late freezes, so the buds survived. Also, rainfall this summer has been fairly regular. The trees did not suffer from drought, so the fruit was able to mature normally.

I hope to bake more home grown peach pies in the years to come.

Additional:

Peaches and Cream Pie involves a whipping cream sauce that is poured over the peach slices before baking. The sauce fills in all the spaces between the peaches and makes for a very satisfying pie.

Peaches and Cream Pie will not “set up” until it is chilled overnight. Impatient bakers may decide to serve the pie over ice cream as it can be quite runny when hot out of the oven.  Refrigeration is important for this pie! Place the pie or whatever remains of it in the refrigerator as soon as it cools. It is delicious served hot or cold.

This pie is not particularly sweet if made with fresh peaches – it only contains 1/3 cup sugar. It is much sweeter if made with thawed home-frozen peaches that contain their own syrup. I usually drain off the syrup from the frozen peaches and set it aside for use as an ingredient in fruit smoothies or as a topping for French toast. This pie can also be made with a few blueberries tossed on to add color and additional flavor.