Megan Palmer

Tess Misch wrote:
Oohhh!  Definitely gonna try this, will have to see what I can replace the sugar with, as I am trying to move away from my sugar intake. But this looks delicious!  --Tess

I have made this without sugar in the batter and it still tastes really good, the natural sugars in fully ripe fruit makes it sweet enough.

Burra Maluca wrote:The boys went to the Festa das Varas do Fumeiro (festival of poles of smokes) yesterday, and came home with this, which is now cooking...

It looks deliciously rich.  How did you cook it? Boiled, steamed/baked?

It's been a bumper year for cherries in Central Otago and have just been clambering up a ladder and picked a half bucketful of cherries.

Could have taken more but they taste best eaten fresh, these are an eating variety.

Time to make cherry clafoutis!

This thread might give you some inspiration for meal ideas

https://permies.com/t/360/1126/dinner#3730572

Bear

We have three whisks in our kitchen and the one that gets the least use is the balloon whisk.

We also own a rotary egg beater and a spiral whisk.

All three were op shop finds and the spiral whisk gets the most use.

It is guaranteed to produce a lump free roux, gravy, batter and will whisk eggs well for omelettes but if I need to beat egg whites the rotary egg beater is quicker.

The ballon whisk is one with some sort of sealant in the handle keeping the wires in place.

The rotary egg beater is definitely a buy for life, my 90 year old mother has her one from my childhood.

Both the other whisks will likely outlive me too.

Is it too late to try to find some pencil thick branches that can be grafted onto another tree in spring?

They can be grafted onto a plum or peach, take lots of cuttings. I am an inexperienced grafter but get a one in six success rate on the majority of the grafts I’ve done.

Or scrabble around the base of the tree for any of last seasons windfalls and plant the stones?

The stone grown trees may not be identical but will certainly be very close to the parent and may even be more delicious.

And here in NZ they are called slaters

https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/tools-and-resources/identification/what-is-this-bug/slaters

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I love peaches.  More than peaches, I love apricots, and even more than apricots, I love nectarines.

I love eating them all equally but for preserving, my favourite is the variety of peach known as golden queen in NZ.

It has a firm texture when just ripe but softer flesh when over ripe, is a clingstone and tastes really good when bottled and is great for chutneys. The skin only has a light fuzz.

For bottling, the black boy peach aka peche de vignes aka blood peach is superb, slightly tart even when fully ripe. An added bonus is that it’s a free stone.

White peaches are best off the tree for me, they seem to taste too bland when bottled and not enough texture for chutneys.

I have planted 5 apricots, 6 peaches and 2 nectarines at the community garden where I have a plot and still have countless seedlings in pots and still can’t resist sowing the stones every time I eat a good flavoured stone fruit.

Our region is renowned for growing stone fruit although our community garden site is less than ideal, our trees still produce enough for eating if not preserving.

Timothy Norton wrote:Is there something special about donut peaches?

I have seen a few cultivars that make flat shaped peaches and those peaches are toted as being some of the sweetest fruit. Is there something to it?

Last week, a friend gave me some locally grown donut peaches that I will save the stones and try to grow out.

I've already grown at least 5 different varieties of peaches from stones so hopefully can report back in 3-4 years whether the stone grown peaches are as sweet as the ones I've been given.

They are white fleshed and very early so may struggle with frosts and late spring snow that we get.

The mature peach trees at the community garden often don't produce a crop as our site is in a gorge that acts like a wind tunnel.

And yes, they are very sweet.