On a really hot day, there’s nothing better than sipping an icy peach-spiked concoction—preferably on an island, in a hammock, before a vast cloudless horizon and a gleaming ocean. Let’s face it, though—we’re seldom, if ever, enmeshed in such a scenario. But we can still drink a peachy drink and dream, can’t we? That’s the most important part of the fantasy and, coincidentally, the easiest one to make happen. Peaches are an ideal natural sweetener for cocktails, a bartender’s secret weapon.
If you have a favorite bartender, you know the value of a guy (or girl) who can make your favorite drink and serve it up with some quality banter on the side. I have such a bartender: the great Gary Crunkleton, whose bar, The Crunkleton, lines the main drag of my hometown, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Everything about him is larger-than-life, especially his sense of humor. Crunkleton (the name’s Scottish) has made a study of mixology and loves to create new cocktails. One of his signature drinks is called the Southern Neighbor, because “it could turn anyone friendly.” It’s made with Damiana, a subtly fig-flavored herbal liqueur from Mexico, which is available in good liquor stores.
MAKES 4 COCKTAILS
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 very ripe, soft peaches, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
4 ounces apple brandy
4 ounces gin
4 ounces Damiana
2 ounces lemon juice
4 mint sprigs, for garnish
Place the sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely.
In a large tumbler, mash the peaches gently with the back of a spoon until the fruit releases its juices.
Combine the peaches, brandy, gin, Damiana, and lemon juice in a large shaker along with a few ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into 4 Collins glasses filled with ice. Garnish each with a fresh mint sprig.
This is a peach-touched version of the Arnold Palmer, the combination of lemonade and iced tea popularized by the golf legend. “The idea for the combination struck me after a round of golf in the [California] desert in the early ’60s. I wanted something that would be refreshing and realized that lemonade would be a natural complement to iced tea, since most people add a lemon wedge to their tea. When I first started ordering the combination in Palm Springs, a sharp waitress . . . started calling it an Arnold Palmer,” Palmer told Saveur magazine in 2004. Palmer is many things, but a southerner he is not; if he were, he’d surely have put slices of ripe peaches in his iced tea, as is customary anywhere peaches are grown and iced tea is consumed. This version combines puréed fresh peaches with homemade iced tea. For a special “adult” beverage, you can spike each glass with a shot of vodka; in golf circles, when an Arnold Palmer is spiked with vodka, it’s called a John Daly.
MAKES 1 GALLON
4 cups water, divided
3 family-size tea bags
2 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 cups of the water to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat. Add the tea bags, cover, and steep for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place the peaches and the remaining 1 cup of water in a blender and blend until very smooth, at least 3 minutes. Pour the peach mixture, tea, and sugar into a 1 gallon pitcher. Fill the pitcher to the top with water, and stir until blended.
Although I was born and raised in Atlanta, a big part of my heart is in New York City, where my career grew up, if you will. Of the many guilty pleasures I picked up in the Big Apple, an intense love of seltzer is probably the biggest; the slight mineral flavor is so refreshing that I’ve become an addict. I am always experimenting with different seltzer flavors, which is how this soda came about.
To make a more adult version of this soda, add a shot of ice-cold vodka to each glass and garnish with a couple of fresh mint leaves.
MAKES 4 DRINKS
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup sparkling water
In a small saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved, 2–3 minutes. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
In a blender, combine the cooled syrup, peaches, blackberries, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Blend until smooth. Add the sparkling water and pour into an ice-filled pitcher. Serve immediately.
The Bellini, a deceptively simple cocktail of peach purée with sparkling wine, was created in the legendary Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy, which was opened in 1931 by Giuseppe Cipriani, a former hotel waiter. Harry’s Bar has become one of the world’s most lauded, and expensive, upper-class oases, and along the way, it also became famous for its dressed-up versions of homey Italian specialties and its signature carpaccio appetizer. The magic of its signature cocktail, named for Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini, is in the combination of very ripe fruit with very cold, crisp bubbly. Which means it’s very good on a hot day. Or any day, for that matter.
MAKES 6 COCKTAILS
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1–2 (750 ml) bottles prosecco or other sparkling wine, chilled
Fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, for garnish
Orange peel twists, for garnish
Place the sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely.
Purée the peaches and grated orange peel in a blender with1/2 cup of the sugar syrup until smooth, at least 3 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate.
For each serving, place 2–4 tablespoons of fruit purée into a champagne flute. Slowly pour enough prosecco into the flute to fill it. Gently stir to blend. Garnish with whole berries and orange peel twists.
Sangria is the Spanish punch traditionally made with red wine (“sangria” means “bleeding”) diluted with a little sugar and orange juice and sweetened with nutmeg; sliced lemons and oranges are added to macerate, and then still or sparkling water is added when the drink is served. It first caught the attention of Americans when it was served in the Spanish pavilion of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Americans took the drink into their own hands, adding all sorts of fruits, including chopped apples, cherries, and mangoes. Known as white sangria, this laidback version of the drink is made with Spanish white wine and peaches, and it’s a huge crowd pleaser. It’s best made a few hours in advance and chilled until ready to serve.
MAKES 4–6 COCKTAILS
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water, divided
2 peaches, peeled, halved, and pitted
1 (750 ml) bottle white Spanish table wine, such as Albariño, Viura, or Verdejo
3 ounces brandy
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
Fresh peaches, oranges, and apples, diced (optional)
In a small nonreactive saucepan over moderately high heat, combine the sugar and 1/4 cup of the water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat and let cool.
In a blender, combine the peaches with the remaining 1/4 cup of water and purée until smooth, at least 3 minutes. Strain and reserve the purée.
Pour the remaining ingredients in a large pitcher along with the simple syrup and peach purée. Stir in the diced fruits, if using. Refrigerate the pitcher, covered, 8–48 hours. Serve over ice.
If you associate flavored frozen margaritas with college girls gone wild in Cancun, I present this white peach–silver tequila version, which is a refreshing, chunky-fruity, smoothie-like beverage especially made for a hot day or some hot and spicy Mexican food. The peach schnapps is included mostly for its peachy fragrance and sweetness, but if you find it too cloying—or collegiate—then simply omit it.
MAKES 2 COCKTAILS
1 large white peach, pitted
1/2 cup water
Ice
3 ounces silver tequila
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 ounces peach schnapps (optional)
In a blender, combine the peach and water. Blend until completely smooth, at least 3 minutes. Strain the purée to get rid of the pulp if you like; if you prefer it thicker, don’t bother. Add ice to fill the blender three-quarters of the way to the top. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend. Serve immediately, ice-cold.
Alice Waters, who has owned and operated Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, for more than thirty years, is a leading advocate of the “eat local” food movement. As such, she’s always on the frontlines of U.S. food politics. She has testified before Congress many times on subjects like fast food in public schools (she’s against it), and she pioneered the “Edible Schoolyard” movement to help inner-city kids build gardens. She’s also a tremendous lover of peaches. “Even amid the abundance of other summertime fruits, peaches are our favorite for dessert,” she wrote in Chez Panisse Fruits. At Chez Panisse, a specialty of the house in the summer is a Provençal-style vin de pêche, a refreshing yet sweet aperitif that derives its subtle flavor from the tender peach leaves of early summer. How can you get peach leaves? Peaches are all over farmers’ markets in the summer, and most farmers are happy to sell the otherwise useless leaves. You can also get dried peach leaves from any good herbalist or vitamin shop or online from a reputable botanical company; the dried leaves can be easily reconstituted in warm water.
MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS
120 peach leaves, picked in late spring or early summer, washed and dried
1 (750 ml) bottle red wine (preferably a light, fruity Zinfandel)
1/2 cup cognac
2 cups sugar
Combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive container and cover tightly. Store in a cool, dark cellar or in the refrigerator for 30 days. Strain out the leaves and pour the liquid into a clean wine bottle. Serve as an aperitif, well chilled or over ice.