By The weather turned cool overnight Sunday into Monday and the rest of the week ran in the high sixties days and the high forties nights, the kind of weather that announces the early end of summer in Vermont and that the garden responds to with a mixture of acceleration (the squash and tomatoes putting on a final push) and slowdown (the beans starting to wind down, the corn finishing). The first hint of color appeared in the maples at the edge of the woodlot Friday — not yet leaf turn, just a single branch on the big sugar maple by the road showing a few orange leaves — and I noted it the way I have noted it every year for sixty-five years, the small early signal that the season is on its turn.
Made a peach pie Saturday with the late peaches from the orchard in Shoreham — the Cresthaven variety, large and golden and perfectly ripe at this stage of August. The pie was the lattice top, the lard crust, the peaches sliced thick with a small amount of sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch and a squeeze of lemon, into the oven at four hundred for fifteen minutes and then at three-fifty for forty minutes. The pie came out of the oven the color of late August, which is to say the color of caramelized peach and golden crust and the late afternoon light coming in through the kitchen windows. I ate two slices Saturday night, one Sunday for breakfast, one Monday for supper. The pie was gone by Tuesday. There is no improvement on a peach pie made from properly ripe Vermont-orchard peaches in the third week of August.
The blog post for the week was the peach pie with a photograph of the lattice top before baking. The post pulled the kind of comments a peach-pie post pulls, which is to say comments from people in seven states reporting on the peach situation in their own corners of the country and recommending varieties and orchards and techniques. A woman in Georgia wrote in to defend the proposition that Georgia peaches are superior to all other peaches, which I do not entirely concede but which I respected as a regional position. A man in Washington wrote in to defend Washington peaches with similar regional energy. The comment thread became, as comment threads on fruit posts often do, a small civilized argument about which corner of the country has the best version of the thing in question, the argument being unwinnable and therefore endlessly enjoyable.
James called Sunday afternoon. He and Sam are coming up for Labor Day weekend, a three-day visit, and they want to know if they can bring Otis and whether I want them to bring any food. I told them: bring Otis, he is welcome, and bring nothing, the garden is producing more than I can eat. James said: are you sure. I said: I am sure. He said: okay. We talked for ten minutes about the weekend logistics — when they would arrive, what they wanted to do, whether we could go for a walk in the woodlot if Otis was up for it. The walk in the woodlot is one of the things James most likes about the farmhouse and that he has been requesting on his visits since he was about ten, and the request from a twenty-eight-year-old man with his own apartment and his own dog and his own life was one of the small confirmations of a relationship that I have come to value more than I have probably told him.
The pie was gone by Tuesday, as it always is, and with James and Sam and Otis arriving for Labor Day weekend I found myself wanting something that could carry the same late-August peach flavor — something I could make ahead and have waiting in the freezer when they pulled into the driveway. The orchard in Shoreham still had Cresthavens, and it seemed right to use them one more time before the season closed, in a form that could sit in the freezer and be ready when the walk in the woodlot was finished and everyone came back inside wanting something cold and sweet.
Peach Gelato
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes plus 4 hours chilling and churning | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ripe peaches (about 5 medium), peeled, pitted, and chopped
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Macerate the peaches. Combine the chopped peaches with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl. Stir to coat, then let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes until the peaches release their juices.
- Puree the peaches. Transfer the macerated peaches and all their juices to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. You should have about 2 cups of puree. Set aside.
- Make the custard base. Warm the milk and heavy cream together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until steaming but not boiling. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the salt until pale and slightly thickened.
- Temper the eggs. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Then pour the tempered yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk, stirring to combine.
- Cook the custard. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon and reaches 170–175°F, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do not let it boil.
- Combine and chill. Remove the custard from heat and stir in the peach puree and almond extract. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface and refrigerate until thoroughly cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Churn the gelato. Pour the chilled base into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions until it reaches a soft, creamy consistency, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Freeze to set. Transfer the churned gelato to a freezer-safe container, smooth the top, and press plastic wrap against the surface. Freeze for at least 2 hours until firm enough to scoop. Remove from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to soften slightly.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 265 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 41g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 55mg