Baby Aria and I spent the day in our garden. She helped me trim the basil plants and gather ripe peaches in large baskets. Since the skin of this specific variety of peach is very fuzzy, they couldn’t be eaten as is because it could have irritated her throat. So I blanched the fruit and peeled the skin. The skin unveiled a beautiful yellow flesh and the stone was easy to remove because the fruit was so ripe. They were very flavorful and sweet.
I made syrup flavored with kaffir lime and ginger and poached the halved peaches for a few minutes. You could garnish the chilled peach soup with other small-sized fruits such as berries. I wanted to impart an Asian flair to the light snack, so I paired it with purple mangosteens. The result was spectacular.
1. Info for Chilled Peach Soup Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 8
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Chilled Peach Soup Recipe
- 12 small ripe peaches
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar, to taste
- 1 tablespoons light brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, sliced paper-thin
- 1 fresh kaffir lime leaf, torn in half
- fresh mint leaves, for garnish
- juice of 1 lime
- ¼ cup sliced almonds (optional), lightly toasted
- 10 ounces mangosteens (see tips), drained
3. Directions:
- Peel the peaches (if the fruit is very ripe, the skin should come right off); otherwise here’s a neat method to peel them. Make a small, shallow criss-cross cut at the bottom of the fresh fruit using a bread knife (I use a bread knife because the blade won’t bruise the fruit). Fill a small saucepan with cold water and bring to a boil. Place the peaches in the water and wait for at least 1 minute. Remove the peaches (I use a large strainer or a slotted spoon), then transfer to an ice cold bath to stop the cooking process. The skin will come right off. Cut them in half and remove the stones.
- Combine the sugars, kaffir lime leaf and ginger in a pot. Add 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil and wait until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off the heat, cover and let cool to room temperature. Strain the syrup, discarding the solids.
- Return the syrup to the pot and reheat it. Delicately place the halved peaches in the syrup and poach them for 5 minutes in the warm syrup. Let cool one more time to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator.
- When ready to serve, add the mangosteens to the syrup and garnish with fresh mint leaves.
- Bon appétit!
