Can’t find the perfect summer peaches? Don’t Sweat: Frozen is great too

When assistant food editor Rachel Gorjar Utama was hired Peach summer cocktail recipeShe had perfect visions of the Peak Season Stone Fruit Dance in her head. I pictured a drink made of August plums so ripe they would look bruised if you looked at them the wrong way. And while that might be the dream, the truth was that she had to develop the recipe in… May. in New York. Which means there were no decent peaches in sight – except for the freezer aisle.

So I picked up a bag of frozen peaches at Wegmans and whipped up this sparkling rose, amaro, and Aperol spritz with them. And you know what? They were actually very tasty! Sure, they don’t dazzle completely Like the platonic ideal of the finest, freshest fruit in season, but the frozen peaches are harvested and preserved at their peak, so they’re full of flavor. (Plus, there’s no risk of skin cracking or bruising, which seems to always happen to fresh whenever I buy them. I use mashed ones in This recipe is for a bush Although, it is now my go-to for all soft or disappointing fruit).

As an added bonus, frozen peaches pull double duty into the spritz, bringing the flavor of ripe peaches while also serving as a nice ice cube. By the time you reach the end of the cup (too early), the frozen peaches will have thawed and sucked on the rose, leaving you with a crunchy morsel of fermented fruit. Award! I love these.

That’s all to say, if you can’t get a killer fresh peaches, then freezing is the step. Want to buy some frozen peaches online? I’m a huge fan of Detroit-based Farm to Freezer’s peaches, as you get a two-pound bag This $40 assortment of frozen fruit tins is for all your summer fruits. Brandon Singh, the company’s founder, tells me that they freeze local produce using a mini blast cooler within a few hours of harvesting. (Cold-chill means they are frozen with sprinkles of cold air instead of liquid nitrogen.) I love frozen sour cherries for making them. lazy clafoutisFrozen peaches are great for baking, too, even though we tend to think of frozen fruit as just that juice.

Singh explained that when fruits are frozen, their cell wall breaks, and they can lose some of their structure. So thawed blueberries won’t be as bouncy as fresh juice, which is good in smoothies. Farm to freezer apples and peaches, though, have sturdier flesh and tolerate freezing well compared to tender berries; His children melt the peach and eat it from their hands.

So the next time you’re craving a cocktail or dessert made with peaches in November, or all expectations at the August farmers’ market are pretty slim, don’t despair. Frozen peaches are here for you all year long.