Meaker’s peaches
Here in the Heartland, it’s time to harvest white peaches. Unlike the yellows, which are pretty cooperative, white peaches can be divas. My next door neighbor’s tree has, for the past 4 years, borne gorgeous bunches of fruit that has refused to ripen. This year the tree just said ‘feck it’ and blew itself up.Branches, leaves and green peaches everywhere, like somebody set off a grenade in the middle of the tree!
The smell of busted green peaches is intriguing. It’s raw and indolic and has a faint yeasty, salty aroma reminiscent of …well, post-intime sheets. It’s the smell of contemporary Mitsouko and Coco (Blame March). Ripe white peaches give off a sunny skin-scent. I harvested 2 giant buckets of the little beauties today, in 95F heat and the smell was less sexual, more organic (not that sex isn’t organic but there was little of the carnal involved. Then again, I was harvesting with a 14-yr old boy – and I am no cougar. Perhaps if I’d been harvesting them with Idris Elba…. the ripe peach notes remind me of the opening notes of Guerlain’s Samsara and vintage Mitsouko (a totally different animal from the current. If you’ve not sniffed vintage Mitsouko, you should. It’s one of the most perfect perfumes ever made). My favorite Keiko Mecheri is Peau de Peche – it smells a lot like I suspect a white cotton blanket would smell, after I finished feeding those ripe white peaches, in 90-degree heat, to Idris Elba. Yeah, like that.
Dior is one of those Houses that has never quite ‘gotten’ peach, at least not for me. Two of my least favorite Diors, j’adore and Dolce Vita, contain hefty peach notes. Alas, I’ve never figured out Dolce Vita – it smells like boozy jam and freaks me out. I don’t like j’adore because it doesn’t smell like vintage Dior and I confess that I am a Great Big Baby when it comes to Dior. I can’t seem to get beyond the vintages and that’s my fault. I’m a PERFUMISTA, dagnabit! I need to get over myself. But I still don’t like j’adore.
So……I have 2 buckets of peaches. I’m going to make a couple of pints of brandied peaches, then freeze the rest. No, I’m not. I’m freezing them ALL. It’s 95F here for the rest of the week and the idea of blanching peaches makes me want to bite my own head off. But I do think I’ll wear vintage Mitsouko while I am processing them – it’s the right thing to do!
What would you do with 2 buckets of ripe white peaches? And what scent would you wear in which to do it? I’m voting for feeding them to Idris, meself! Do you have a favorite peach perfume?
Reading your post made me inhale deeply a huge peach I brought for after lunch. I’m trying to think of peach perfumes I’ve had in the past. Is Tresor peachy? Right now the only ones I can think of that I have are Coco, Chanel #5, and Burberry woman.
I’d make a peach pie and freeze the rest….YUMMMMM!!!!
Dear lord, woman. Peaches and Idris Elba? Well, there went my day…
I’d go for just good old-fashioned canned peaches. Mmmm, few things are better in the dead of winter. I’ve found that for perfumes like Mitsy and Femme, the peach note on my skin just smells more like warm skin, veeerry sex-ay. After trying Bombay Bling and falling for that fantastic mango note, I’ve wanted to find a perfume that has a similar juicy peach note, but haven’t dived into Peau de Peach and Peche Cardinale waters just yet.
I’m voting for peach chutney, as long as I don’t have to be the one sweating over a hot stove. Perhaps Idris could do that for me…..
I think what kept me from really loving Mitsouko at first was the peach note that was huge to my beginner’s nose. Now, I don’t notice it as much anymore. I didn’t know that my beloved Courtesan has peach in it because I can’t pick it out. So far, those are the only two in my collection that have peach in them. What I am really waiting for is apple and pumpkin season.
I would eat them all wearing Histoires de Parfums 1969 – a peachy chocolate perfume indulgence.
I’m also diggin’ Rosine Vive le Mariee
Definitely slice them suckers up with sugar and lemon juice and FREEZE THEM, for summer in the frigid icy depths of winter.
(Well, sure, save a couple of peaches for Idris. Whom I LIKE, of course, but whom I’d trade in a millisecond for Tom Hardy. Rrrowwwr. You want fun, go Google for the two of them standing together – think they did a film or two together.)
I love me some peach notes, but unfortunately I still don’t love Mitsy. Love Dolce Vita (the parfum, in frigid icy winter, is stunning), love that first Ines de la Fressange. Peau de Peche is nice, and I rather liked the over-the-top-ness of MDCI Peche Cardinale. Also, I really dig the small vial of undecalactone I got from a perfumer, on its own. (That’s the peach in Mitsouko, and I have no idea why I don’t love it.)
Being a southern gal, you are definitely making me miss home with this post! I would make lots of peach cobbler! I had one recently that was peach and blueberry that was quite tasty. As much as I love peaches, I don’t care for it in a fragrance.
We have been feasting on beautiful nectarines this week, just as they are, with juice running down our arms. The scent of them fills the kitchen.
This week I also sprayed Clive Christian X women ….very expensive peach I thought, but actually loved it. Unfortunately. My husband’s eyed crossed when I told him the price!
Forget the peaches! Idris Elba on a white cotton blanket . Have loved him since The Wire and can’t wait for Luther to come back.
Oh, peaches! Trying to buy a tasty one here in vikingland is like buying a lottery ticket. Odds are not in your favor. I had to chuck every one of the last few I bought, by the time they were ripe, they were totally icky brown & rotten looking from the core out. I guess you have to buy them totally ripe for immediate consumption.
Is there such a thing as peach chutney? That’s what I would make.
It’s crazy hot here, but the yield from the farmer’s market is finally varied and gorgeous. 4 big fat beautiful purple eggplant for $3. The oven & stove went on for baba ganouj & eggplant curry, heat be damned. Having a fridge full of low cal, highly nutritious food is helping, along with tracking intake & exercise on chron-o-meter. 4 lbs. down, 46 to go.
Yes to peach chutney! Here’s a recipe I’ve used : http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Peach-Chutney-102309
Peche Cardinal by MDCI Parfums!!! mmmm! I feel demure yet innately sexy when I wear that, which is what I tend to think of when I see peaches. Something soft and pretty, yet juicy and carnal and irresistible.
I recently saw a play on the pineapple upside down cake – blueberry peach upside down cake. This is the perfect push to attempt to construct one! If I can get my GA based SIL to send me some peaches. I work with a vendor in GA that sends me a box of Vidalia onions every year. REALLY?WHAT? Send me peaches!!!
OOooh peach sorbet or even better, go for the peach ice cream. It gives you the cold and peaches/cream combo. My mom always does peach cobbler, with blueberries thrown in, but it feels too hot for that. So I’d just drop them off at my mom’s and she’d probably whip up a batch anyway, with her air turned down to 65degrees.
I really need to try vintage Mitsy. I’ve been remiss on my vintage classics, mostly because I’m afraid it will make me dissatisfied with the currents and send me down the vintage rabbit hole. What other peach note perfumes are great?
Ha! Thats funny Beth, because I’m the exact opposite. Being old 😉 I am so used to many of the vintages as I grew up with them. Now I’m trapped in that corner and afraid to try the new offerings… I’m sure its because I havent had an experienced perumista guide. Those that I have tried, either smell “plasticky”, thin/watery or like a jolly rancher…
Musette,
I have to confess I had to look up who Idris Elba is ( I live in the boonies and we don’t have television). Yeah, I’d totally feed him white peaches ( or grapes or fettucine alfredo or… 🙂 ! ). I’d vote for making sorbet out of the peaches or my favorite summer treat – a crumble made with raspberries, blueberries and peaches, served with vanilla ice cream melting all over it.
I don’t always like a peach note in perfume but two of my favorites are No. 5 in the EDT version and Eclat d’Arpege ( a little trashy but great fun – I discovered it when a kind posse fairy godmother send me a sample). I’m still getting to know Dior and haven’t sampled many of the vintage ones but really like Mitzah and Eau Noire.
I’m very intrigued about the exploding peach tree- I wanna see that!! 😀 and seriously, how does that happen?…
The peaches? Sorbet. Pulverized peaches and sugar syrup in my ice-cream maker. It’s where the rockmelon and the mulberries also go when it’s too hot to make pies or whatever it is one can do with melons..
Peach is a note that I’d think I’d like in perfume, but I can’t think of a single one I actually do like..
Not truly a peach-but Enlevement au Serail is a modern chypre with a very peachy vibe. Peaches are best eaten out of hand for me-dripping ripe!
Wow, those look incredible. We have a tiny freezer, so I’d be forced to can them. It’d be worth it in February. I think the only perfumes I like with peach notes are the ones where I don’t notice the peach note.
Peaches to eat, yes please. Peaches in perfume, not always. I love them. I love the smell of them but in some perfumes they remind me of when I worked at the shelter and got stuck cleaning the cat room. Yup, cat pee accord. The most recent scent that I’ve worn that’s peachy that I like is Red Cattleyea.
If I had those peaches I would be baking and making some peach jam. Brandied peaches do sound wonderful though.
It’s peach season here in the south. Only one of a couple things i like about this part of the country PEACHES yay! As for wearing them, yes if it was a fresh peach maybe mixed with a light floral, thats pretty.Wearing vintage Mitsouko while making brandied peaches, very southern lady-ish i’d say. With 2 buckets of peaches i would be drinking the brandy and making peach cobblers.
I don’t have much experience with peaches, sorry! But that Kilian Fleur d’Immortalité is pretty delicious. At first I thought it was too simple (that price tag is a killer), but I got a big sample at STC and it really grew on me. It could be a summer staple, if I were reckless enough to buy it.
Bellinis!
MMMMMMMM peach in any form is just deeeeevine to my nose and taste buds. At first I thought I would make peach pie to have with french vanilla ice cream, but then I thought that would involve making pastry and THAT would involve turning on the oven – too hot to contemplate. So then I turned to another favorite site – thekitchn dot com – and found a recipe for Sparkling White Peach Sangria. Perfect for Labor Day festivities! I would wear either Mitsouko or Histoires de Parfums 1969, another delectable peach concoction.
I am a Georgia girl, and white peaches are one of my deepest non-carnal pleasures in life. The best thing for you to do with two buckets of ripe white peaches (Belle of Georgia, by chance?!) is to send them to me.
Failing that, and Idris ( thank you for the introduction, by the way!) how about making some brandy??
I love some peach in my juice….love Mitsy, any version, Femme, and the very peachy ( to my nose, which is admittedly not all that) Evelyn Rose, by Crabtree & Evelyn.
OMG! how could I, Girl of Femme, have forgotten HER? Yikes!!!
No idea the variety – just that they’re good.
I would rather bite my own head off, then use my head to bite my own hands off, rather than process these peaches any further than ‘slice & freeze’. I’ve been processing harvest for a month. I’m sorta over it.
xoxoA
I do understand. I am not a huge fan of the whole canning things, other than pickes and jams.
How about slicing them in a a quart of vodka with some basil? And then inviting me over?? 😛
http://cookingmywaythroughmycsa.blogspot.com/2011/09/peach-basil-infused-vodka.html
Or perhaps slicing some and a hot pepper into Triple Sec? ( I have no idea whatthat is, but the combo of peach and pepper sounds good!)
http://goodbooze.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/last-gasp-of-summer-liqueur/
Bwhahahahhahaha! It’s late, I have to be up in a few hours to leave for Seattle on vacay, and your “the idea of blanching peaches makes me want to bite my own head off” made me laugh so hard I almost had post-intimate sheets! Thank you, Dear Musette! I will sleep on that one. And, I adore white peaches but we don’t see them here in So. Cal. as much or if we do, they taste like feck! Enjoy a few for me!
I will, darling! These really are divine!
have a great vacation!!! xoxoxoA
Well, I like the smell of ripe peaches, but now I’ve got Idris Elba stuck in my head. Did you know “Luther ” is coming back soon?
Oh, sweet!!!! xoxo
A bowl of ripe peaches is a beautiful scent, but all peach perfumes are the Devil’s spawn and please don’t wear them into my office. If you do, I will get out my Fracas ;-).
LOL! That’s throwing the rabbit into a briar patch full of carrots! I LOVE Fracas. Bring it!! xoxoxoA