Peaches

If you were a follower last year, you may recall that we planted a peach tree in May. It was a very young tree and as the grower explained to me, the first year do not expect any fruit because its energy is being spent developing a root system and getting adjusted to its new environment.

Well, this year the tree has produced tons of fruit, so much so that the branches started to bend and came close to breaking. I had to remove some of the branches. I kept waiting for the fruit to get larger. I noticed that they were getting their color but not really getting any bigger. My research taught me that I should have removed some of the peaches when they were small buds so that they would not be so cramped on the branches. Also, as my husband pointed out the other day, at this stage the tree is not strong enough to carry really large fruit.

So, after picking a couple and trying them out, I realized that they are ripe. What I decided to do because there are so many is to freeze some of them. I have a new vacuum sealer; which I absolutely love, so I can freeze these for use this fall or winter and they should taste like fresh ones.

Actually because the vacuum sealer pulls all of the air out, these should be fresh for at least a year. I also use it for my meats because I hate pulling out freezer burned food to serve my family.

My daughter wanted me to use them to make a peach cobbler, however, I would have to use so many of them because they are so small I opted not to use them for that purpose. I'll just buy canned ones until the tree gets larger and produces bigger fruit.