email this page“Biting into one, the juices would drip down my cheeks and dangle on my chin,” he writes in Heirlooms: Letters from a Peach Farmer (Heyday Books, 2007). “Then, the nectar exploded in my mouth as the pulp slid past the tongue and down the throat. I stopped and savored the moment of pleasure: smacking my lips, sucking my tongue and still tasting peach. I gorged myself and grew fat.”
The sensation stayed with him—when he left Del Ray, Calif., to attend University of California, Berkeley; when he studied abroad in Japan; and when he returned home to help his parents on their 80-acre peach and grape farm.
Eventually Masumoto took over the family farm, and he and his wife, Marcy, decided to raise their family there. Over the years, this third-generation farmer has learned to appreciate the slow rhythms of country life. He devises ways to work with nature, not against it, taking pride in responsible, organic farming. He sacrifices personal comfort for the promise of sweet satisfaction; though triple-digit summer temperatures in the Central Valley are no doubt difficult for him and his crew to endure, they can be good for the peaches.
Farming, Masumoto realizes, will hardly make him rich. But he works for his family and his posterity, for the land to which he remains committed and the community to which he is attached. What Masumoto most wants to leave behind is significance. “Imagine forever altering the landscape by keeping it the same: a farm that retains its identity while a region holds onto a piece of history. To know who we are because we still have a sense of where we are.”
Amaretto Peach Cobbler
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut
into ¼-inch pieces
½ cup ice water, divided
Fruit:
6 cups peeled and sliced ripe
peaches (about 3 pounds)
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Grated rind of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons Amaretto
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut
into small pieces
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Cinnamon-sugar or turbinado sugar, optional
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. To prepare fruit, combine peaches, sugar and flour; toss well. Add lemon rind, lemon juice, Amaretto, nutmeg, salt and butter; toss well.
4. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out half the pastry dough to a thickness of 1⁄8 inch. Line a 2-quart casserole (2 1⁄2-inches deep) with pastry, trimming to fit. Spoon fruit into casserole.
5. Roll out remaining pastry to a thickness of 1⁄8 inch. Place over fruit. Moisten edges of the top and sides with a little water, press them together and crimp decoratively. Cut several slits in top crust. Brush crust with egg white and sprinkle generously with cinnamon-sugar, if using.
6. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden brown and fruit is bubbly. Serves 8.
Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, "Relish Classic Dishes," June 2007; "Relish New American Farmers," June 2008.
Peach Pudding Cake
Ingredients
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds removed, or ½
teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup water
8 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self-rising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Confectioners’ sugar, optional
Vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche, optional
2. Place peaches cut side down in a large skillet with brown sugar, vanilla bean seeds and water. Simmer 5 minutes. Cool.
3. Combine butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour, salt and syrup from cooked peaches; beat until blended.
4. Place peaches cut side down in prepared pan; top with batter. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. When cool, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, if using. Serve with vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche, if desired. Serves 6.
Relish new American Farmers, "The Warm Fuzzies," June 2008.
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