My Favorite Use of Peaches

- Beth Brandon

Based on the newsletter I just got this week from my local farmstand, it is time to go stock up on tree fruits: apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines. Why? Well, not only to can them in light syrup or make pies or jams or, well, to eat them, quite sloppily, with juice dripping down my chin... but to FREEZE THEM, in chunks, making what I like to call the most delicious ice cubes ever for a winter whiskey drink.

If you want to keep it all close to home (those of you in the New York area), go get yourself some Tuthilltown Spirits Hudson Baby Bourbon.

I warmed the hearts of many guests in the cold weather months with this simple, wholesome victual. Let the fruit melt in your drink until you're done and then eat the slippery, liquor-soaked peach that's left in your glass. Heaven.

When freezing these fruits, choose fruit at the peak of ripeness and discard any bad spots. Cut out the pit, cut fruit into chunks (whatever size you like), and fill new freezer bags, pushing out air as much as possible before sealing.

You can also freeze fruits (and any foods, for that matter) in glass or plastic containers. As much as I love my glass mason jars, though, it is much easier to disengage the frozen-together chunks of fruit when they are in a plastic bag than in a container. Rather than stabbing into a container with a knife and risking bodily harm, you can take the sealed bag and hit it against a hard surface like your counter top to break it up.