I GREW UP WITH DIRT under my fingernails, banishing weeds from the garden and then, later, harvesting and preparing veggies to eat fresh or preserve.
My mom canned some, froze some, storing away freezer boxes plump with green beans and beets, corn and other vegetables.
She also preserved fruit in quart jars, with the assistance of us kids, for the long Minnesota winter ahead. Applesauce and cherries. Peaches and pears.
A juicy Colorado peach, from which I must remove the skin because I can’t tolerate the fuzz (feels like a cotton ball) in my mouth.
And then, on a brisk winter evening, when Dad was about to come in for supper after finishing barn chores, she would lift the trap door in the kitchen and send one of us clomping down the creaky, rugged wooden steps to the dirt-floored cellar for a jar of sauce. Dessert. I would tug on the frayed cotton string to switch on the single bare light bulb. Then I would tiptoe reach for a jar of my favorite cherries or peaches.
We got a single box of freshly-picked Colorado peaches. When I was growing up, the peaches came in a wood-slat box that was nailed shut. Each peach was wrapped in tissue paper, which we recycled for use in the outhouse.
Those were my thoughts on Saturday when my husband and I picked up a 20-pound crate of peaches I’d ordered several weeks ago through the Cathedral Community Cafe, a Faribault soup kitchen which every Tuesday offers a free meal to those in need and/or seeking fellowship.
It is a worthy cause with some 9,000 dinners served in 2011 and averaging 150 a week this year. The effort involves about 140 volunteers, 12 churches and four teams of workers.
The Community Cathedral Cafe and First English Lutheran youth pre-sold 260 boxes of peaches and ordered an additional 60 to sell to walk-in customers. The peach project has been an ongoing fundraiser for around five years for the cafe and First English youth. About 50 boxes already had been picked up when I photographed this scene.
But like any such organization, the cafe needs money to keep going. The peach project will channel funds into the cafe’s coffers and I’m happy to support the fundraiser by purchasing a $30 crate of fresh Colorado peaches.
A sign outside the Cathedral Guild House directs customers to the peach pick-up point.
Now, what to do with all those fresh peaches. Thus far I’ve eaten many straight from the box. One evening I blended a peach and vanilla ice cream into a smooth shake. This morning I sliced one into my oatmeal. And I’ve also used thinly-sliced peaches to make a ham and peach panini.
I found the adapted sandwich recipe on Sue Ready’s blog and then tweaked it a bit.
Ham and Peach Panini
2 bread slices
deli ham
1 slice provolone cheese
1 thinly-sliced peach
1/2 teaspoon honey
Djon or spicy brown mustard
chopped fresh basil
Spread mustard and 1/2 teaspoon honey on one bread slice. Top with ham, cheese and thin peach slices. Top with chopped basil. Place other piece of bread on top and brush lightly with olive oil. Also brush other bread slice with oil. Grill in frying pan until golden brown, flip and grill other side.
Love, love, love this sandwich. My husband not so much. But he’s more an ordinary sandwich guy and I really had to persuade him to even take a bite.
Now, I expect when I bake a peach crisp or a peach cheesecake later this week, he won’t hesitate to scoop up a sizable helping.
Tyler Welander, 14, who’s raising monies for youth activities at First English, delivers boxes of peaches to vehicles. I suggested to the peach sellers that perhaps they could bake the pies, too, for me to pick up. But one man said, “Oh, that would be down the street at Trinity.” And he would be right. The Trinity Piemakers are currently selling fresh peach, among other, pies. And since I attend Trinity, I can vouch for the delicious goodness of Trinity pies.
An elderly couple from Farmington ordered nine crates of peaches, seven of which they will deliver to friends.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE peach recipe and what’s the best way to freeze peaches? I’d like to hear.
Click here to reach the website of the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault, home to the community cafe.
Also, please click here to read a post which features a poem I wrote about canning and the watercolor Zumbrota artist Connie Ludwig created based on my poem. Oh, how I wish “Pantry Jewels” was hanging on my dining room wall.
Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Fresh peach pie….yum! Even more decadent-add a layer of sweetened cream cheese!!! I remember the days when crates came with carefully wrapped peaches and my mom would begin the canning process. No A/C back then either!!!! Pleasant memories!
I love peach pie and will eventually make one. But tomorrow I’m trying a peach cheesecake as the Minneapolis daughter will be here for supper and can help eat it. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert, but I really don’t need all the calories. Oh, well.
Sigh…..not a question of ‘need’ though or all these treats (or just some) may not ever come into being! Hehe!
True. I made the peach cheesecake today and, much to our disappointment, it did not have much of a peach flavor. In a blind taste test, I expect anyone sampling this would not have distinguished the peach. Still, it was a tasty, basic cheesecake.
Sometimes the addition of almond ext. will bring out the peach flavor. Every time I cook/bake with peaches that has become a necessary addition!
Thanks for the tip. I will try adding almond extract to the peach crisp I plan to prepare. When I made peach shakes the other night, I found the same thing, no peach flavor.
Definitely will help to enhance….you will be amazed. For amounts, though, be cautious (1/2 tsp translates to quite a bit of flavor, unlike vanilla where 1 tsp is the norm. Depends on size of recipe, of course).
Good thing you advised me on the strong flavor of the almond extract or I likely would have added 1 teaspoon.
Which might be an ok amount…..but then again…….
Oh those look soooo good! I loved the pictures and the recipe sounds so good!!! I have a recipe I have made for a salad with peaches, basil and mozzarella which is divine because it is so different but the flavors blend so well! Makes me think of your panini recipe!!!! YUMMMMM!
Hmmmm, could you possibly share that salad recipe? I eat salads all the time. All the time.
yep—real simple—I will email it to you and you can put some of those peaches to use!
Thank you.
I just eat my peaches straight. I’m kind of funny with fruit, I prefer it fresh, so I never eat fruit pies, etc. I’ve missed out on a lot of desserts in my day because of this! I will eat jams and jellies though.
My mother also canned and froze. A lot of good memories of shelling lima beans (wow, did that make your thumb sore!), breaking up beans, shucking corn. My mother would also make peach preserves and blackberry jelly. At 81 years old, she still makes jelly sometimes. The jellies and preserves didn’t always turn out well though, as sometimes she would overcook them. “Glue jelly” is a joke in my family.
Glue jelly, huh. No, thank you.
I love fruit anyway, really, but lima beans, no thank you.
Happy to bring back memories for you this a.m.
I have always wanted to learn how to can. I am not sure how to get started since I don’t have the equipment. I would love to be able to go somewhere and take a class and bring home the canned goods that I make there.
I bet a local food co-op could direct you to a class. Or find a mentor. I always thought I would can, like my mom, but I don’t. If I preserve food, it’s via freezing. My two sisters and one of my brothers, however, preserve food by canning.
My sister is right, I love to can. I get together with one of my brothers, his special friend, my daughter and son-in-law to make tomato juice. We did 75 quarts last time. They are still making it. I have some frozen tomatoes in the freezer waiting for me to thaw and make bloody mary mix!!! I’ve also canned pickled okra, pickled beans, pickled cucumbers, pickled green cherry tomatoes,salsa, and raspberry jelly. My brother taught me to use the pressure cooker so now it goes so much faster!! The biggest problem with canning is the time it takes to do everything. Often I pick and prepare one night and can the next. If only I won the lottery so I didn’t have to work. Next on our list is horseradish making.(Which needs to be made in a month with an R in it) This also involves my nephew and his wife along with baby Hank. Our mom is supervisor!!! The reason we like to do this together is because it is way more fun than doing it by ourselves even if we do have to drive 2-3 hours to get there.
Let me know when the horseradish making is happening. If we’re available, we’ll be there.
A lot of memories stirred up as I read your post. I grew up in the country (not a farm) and Mom had a huge garden. I remember lots of canning and freezing going on in the kitchen. Sadly I never helped with that process, I was too busy playing ball with the boys 🙂
My grandma had the dirt floor cellar on her farm. I loved following her down there , On the memories. Your peaches look yummy…made me want to go get some 🙂
Tomorrow I’ll be making a peach cheesecake for the first time, so we’ll see how that turns out.
“I grew up with dirt under my fingernails.” LOVE THAT. LOVE IT. And the image of your childhood cellar and the crate of peaches in their individual papers…which you recycled in such a way! Oh, my goodness – fabulous story right there but then the additional story of the cafe. So great.
Thank you, Gretchen. And I didn’t even mention recycling pages from the Sears catalog.
Oh, man. You needn’t…really.
I found a great recipe for peach cake which I made twice this summer. My mom has kept us supplied with canned peaches and I have frozen some as well. Can you forward the peach salad recipe? Sounds delicious.
The peach recipe, courtesy of Beth Ann, should be in your in-box. Please send me your peach cake recipe. I need a dessert for our bible study group meeting at our house on Tuesday evening.
I just looked in the fridge crisper and see I have only 11 peaches remaining from the 20 pounds we picked up last Saturday afternoon. Incredible that I have so few left. Granted, Amber took six, but still…
I love Colorado peaches…….I wait all summer for them; no other kind will do!
We’ll most definitely order a box again. I’m with you on loving those Colorado peaches.
I love your blog. I’m thinking of making a peach mango pie.
Peach and mango would be an interesting combination. Thanks for stopping by.