Peaches, tarragon and buttermilk ice cream…

Farmer Splendid has done an amazing job with our orchard up in the islands. In particular, this year, I’ve been beyond thrilled with abundance of peaches. But, it’s also been a little overwhelming because I can’t stand to let a single morsel of the mellow, honey goodness of these fruits go to waste. Well, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and it didn’t take long for me to find a uniquely, delicious way to preserve these beautiful orbs with ease so we can enjoy them all year long.

My mother planted a fruit tree for each of us when we were born, a peach tree for me; a five~varietal apple tree for one of my sisters and for the other an apricot tree. We moved away from that property many years ago, but it was something special to grow up there, with our own personal birth~trees to sit beneath and watch grow, not to mention enjoying the fruit they provided.

I’m not sure if that is why I like peaches so much, I don’t think so. That mellow, golden goodness and the beautiful fuzzy skin is pretty universally irresistible, isn’t it?

I first made this dessert for a lunch with friends one day, it was sort of an unusual combination of ingredients, peaches, Cointreau liquor, tarragon, salt and pepper, but it was a big hit.

So, I decided to do it on a large scale and freeze them, it turned out to be a beautiful thing.

I’ve printed the large scale recipe below, but you can make a smaller batch with ease, just add the ingredients to suit your taste.

First of all, I sat down at the picnic table on the deck and halved and peeled 50 peaches, cutting out any brown areas. After cutting them in half I was able to pull off the skin with ease just using a paring knife. If your find it hard to peel your peaches you can cut an “X” in the skin and plunge them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, after that they skins should slip off without a problem.

Next, I added the juice of 7 lemons. Have you ever used these wooden citrus reamers? They make it easy to extract the juice of citrus fruits, also you can use the pointed end to bruise the skins and release the volatile oils in cocktails.

Next, I poured 2 cups of Cointreau, an orange flavored liqueur into the bowl, and then I chopped up a cup of fresh tarragon leaves and sprinkled them in. The anise like flavor of the tarragon marries perfectly with the rich, mellow sweetness of the peaches. The Cointreau and lemon juice provide a nice, bright tang and help to preserve the peaches and maintain their color. Finally, a tablespoon of salt to bump up the flavor of all of those delicious ingredients.

After gently stirring all of the ingredients together I spooned the peaches and sauce into 4 gallon sized freezer bags, sealed them

and double bagged them, and put them in the freezer.

For Farmer Splendid’s birthday dinner a couple of weeks later, I pulled out a bag of the peaches and whipped up a batch of this amazing buttermilk ice cream recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

When thawed, the flavors of all of those ingredients had melded together to create a succulent sort of a cold summer soup with nice hearty hunks of peaches. The ice cream offered a creamy, tangy swirl of goodness to each of the bowls and a sprig of fresh tarragon offered just the right amount of fresh greenery. I passed the peppermill for those how wanted to add one more element of flavor to this tasty combination.

Splendid Peaches and Tarragon Recipe

50 peaches, peeled and halved, any brown spots removed

1 cup fresh Tarragon leaves, coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon salt

2 cups Cointreau {or another orange liqueur}

Juice from 7 lemons

optional: fresh ground black pepper

Serve fresh or spoon the mix into zip lock freezer bags and freeze until ready to use.

This recipe will probably serve 40 – 50 people depending on the service size.