SummerHarvestWeb - Flipbook - Page 15
but in John’s grandmother’s day, fruit was
mainly sought for canning and preserving.
Some of our BRJ readers still keep this
tradition alive in their kitchens, including
Phylis Herzog, who grew up on the Herzog
Farm in Pottersville. Phyllis learned to can
peaches when she was a teenager making
peach jam with her mother, Lorraine. Phyllis and her mom used their own variation
of the “Sure-Jell Pectin”recipe and when
we’re very good and get the magazine out
on time, she’ll reward us with a couple of
jars. John Melick recalls his grandmother’s
“spiced peaches.”
“I used to look forward to her spiced
peaches in the jar,” he recalled. “It had
clove, a cinnamon stick. It was like a spiced
gum drop.” (See sidebar)
But what was pleasing to the palate a
century
ago, wouldn’t be quite as appealing
The Melicks (from left to right) Peter Melick, Rebecca Melick, Norma Melick, George Melick, and John
to
the
eye
these days and consumers are
Melick
looking more for those plump, fleshy, pastel peaches you see in so many still lifes. “They’re looking for viShaking off the chill morning breeze, the trees were green and
sual stimulation,” John explained. “If it looks good, it must taste
half-naked, garbed only in their serrated, cats-eye shaped leaves.
good.”
But in a month, the orchard will be aflame in orange, pink and
Once popular varieties like Golden Jubilee, wouldn’t stand a
yellow hues. Grown mainly for the market and pick-your-own seachance
next to the peaches we see in the farm market today. “It
son, most of Melick’s peaches will be enjoyed fresh from the limb,
BRJ 2023
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