Merry Peaches!

Well, the cat's out of the bag.  People, this is going to be your Christmas present.  I just couldn't keep it a secret!!  I had to chronicle it for the blog!  I can't help it, it's becoming an obsession, this blog!  I must describe in detail every culinary project I undertake.  So now you know, family and friends, you're getting infused vodka for Christmas.

While riding through orchards the other day and telling myself for the three thousandth time this summer that I really need to learn how to start canning soon, I tried to come up with some other way to preserve the heaven-sent fruit that comes from my area.  What are the ways to stave off bacteria?  I re-counted my options in my head: well there's lowering the temperature to bacteria-shunning levels.  But nobody wants a bag of frozen peaches, not to mention that by the time they arrive in the mail, they'd be a soggy, moldy mess.  There's drying.  This is not a bad idea at all, and I might well try this next year, especially because my co-worker gave me a great recipe for Peach Leather, where you puree your fruit and spread it in sheets and dry it in the sun.  And when it's done, you roll it up like a Fruit Rollup!  Yum.  Anyway, there's salting, like what people used to do with pork and bison on the ol' Western Frontier.  But salted peaches?  Uh, no.  Pickling and canning: yes, I do intend to teach myself that process.  Next summer.  And what does that leave?  Spirits!

So I followed some very simple directions found on the internet: I cleaned and sliced the LAST (I'm not kidding, the very last) peaches that Rasmussen Farms had to offer this year, dropped them in some cute old Mason Jars, and covered them with vodka.  Eh voila!  I'm going to give them four days and then we'll see what they taste like, so I'll keep you posted.  I'm also going to do some pears, who, unlike peaches, are right at the beginning of their season-- so much so I need to let mine ripen for a few days.  But I shall keep you apprised, as always, for the chronicle of infusions.