Welcome to Stocking Up, a new online column in which we reveal which products you should be looking for at the market right now. From fresh fruits and veggies to olive oils and sodas, we’ll tell you where to get them, how to pick out the best and even suggest ways to add them to your cooking repertoire. Peach season here in Missouri will soon draw to a close but, as with any great performance, there’s one last treat remaining. And that will come in the aptly named varietal known as Encore.
Prized for their brilliant yellow flesh and somewhat-less-fuzzy skin, Encore peaches appear only at the very end of the growing season. Lori Murray, of Murray’s Orchard in Calhoun County, Ill., offers these beauties at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market as well as at the Downtown and Tower Grove markets. Look for peaches that are uniform in size and feel heavy. Avoid any with bruises or discolorations.
While these peaches are great for eating out of hand, their lower moisture content makes them perfect for preserving, Murray said. “Slice the peaches, toss them with a little Fruit Fresh and throw them in a bag in the freezer,” she advised. “Then you can take them out during the winter and put them on your ice cream.” They have a slightly less sweet taste than their earlier season brethren, which makes them a good candidate to appear in pies or cobblers. If you’re adept in other preservation methods, the Encores are good for canning as well.
Whatever you do with these peaches, you’ll have to hurry. Murray said this may very well be the last week they’ll tread the boards at her booth, providing peach-lovers with a short, but very sweet, encore.
– Shannon Parker
This article appears in Sep 1-30, 2010.