By The recipe booklet is done. Destiny sent me the final PDF on Thursday evening and I sat at the kitchen table and read it from cover to cover, which took about forty minutes and which I would recommend to anyone who wants to feel the particular combination of recognition and surprise that comes from seeing your family's life organized on a page. There it is. The cornbread. The pot roast. The sweet potato pie with Marcus's notation in the headnote — "he always asked for this first." The stack cake from Rosemary. Shanice's grandmother's tea cakes. Forty-one recipes. A cover with Bernice laughing in her Easter hat.
Destiny wrote a short introduction that I had not seen before she sent the final. I want to read part of it here because she wrote it better than I could have: "This collection belongs to the women who cooked it into existence, generation by generation, without knowing they were building an archive. It belongs to kitchen tables and church fellowship halls and the back porches of Alabama summers. It belongs to the people who learned these recipes by standing close and paying attention, and to the people who will learn them next. Use it. Add to it. Change what the season demands. The only rule is that you keep cooking." I read that three times. Then I called her and told her it was right. She said, I know. I wanted to get it right. I told her she did.
We are printing seventy-five copies next week. Then the distribution begins. Rosemary gets the first one. Bernice's cast iron gets one set next to it. That is what I've decided.
Destiny’s introduction mentioned the back porches of Alabama summers, and that phrase is still sitting with me. When I finished reading the booklet that evening and set it down on the kitchen table, I wanted something that tasted like those summers — not a full meal, just something cold and sweet and made from scratch, the way everything in those forty-one recipes was made from scratch. We had peaches on the counter. That was enough. This is the lemonade I made while I was still thinking about Bernice’s Easter hat on that cover.
Fresh Peach Lemonade
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe peaches, pitted and roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (for peach syrup)
- 1/4 cup water (for peach syrup)
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 6–8 lemons)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (for lemonade base)
- 4 cups cold water
- 2 cups ice, plus more for serving
- Fresh peach slices and lemon rounds, for garnish
- Fresh mint sprigs, optional
Instructions
- Make the peach syrup. Combine the chopped peaches, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine and cook for 8–10 minutes, until the peaches soften completely and release their juices. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Blend and strain. Transfer the cooked peach mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl or pitcher, pressing the solids with a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids. You should have about 3/4 cup of peach syrup.
- Make the lemonade base. In a large pitcher, combine the fresh lemon juice and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves, about 1–2 minutes.
- Combine. Add the peach syrup to the pitcher along with the 4 cups of cold water. Stir well to combine. Taste and adjust sweetness with a little more sugar or brightness with a squeeze more lemon if needed.
- Chill and serve. Add 2 cups of ice directly to the pitcher or pour over ice in individual glasses. Garnish with fresh peach slices, lemon rounds, and mint sprigs if using. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 95 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 5mg