May 2010 Georgia Inn

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, May 20 at the Georgian Inn, home of member and host Shari Triche.  The ladies gathered outside under the cool canopy of shade trees and enjoyed ice tea and chatting and catching up on the news of families and local events. 

   Linda Wilburn reported that the garden club is paying the Better Home Town program which pays the gardener to weed the downtown islands in order that insurance coverage is available.  Garden clubs around the state have been encouraged to form their clubs into a 501C3s in order to be tax exempt under the Internal Revenue Code and again the garden club allows itself to be under the Better Home Town and Greenville Economic Preservation Society umbrella in order to receive tax exempt donations.

   Wilburn reported on the status of the Greenville streetscapes project.  “We are close,” Wilburn said, “and we have been trying through our private consultant to accelerate the process with the DOT.” There is a chance the project would get underway this summer.  “It will be a four month project,” Wilburn added, “and it would be nice to have it finished in the fall and not go into the winter.”

   Shari Triche, whose program was on peaches, asked members what they knew about peaches: deer liked to eat them, regular spraying was needed for best results, thinning the young peaches so that the weight does not break the branches, the first peaches of the summer are not freestone which all prefer. 

   Triche mentioned other facts about peaches: they are a stone fruit and member of the rose family and cousin to apricots, cherries, plum, and almonds. Clingstone clings to the pit and are a softer, sweeter, juicier fruit whereas freestone peaches do not cling to the pit and are larger.

   Pick a peach by its even golden color and look for a well defined crease, Triche said.  Avoid if the stem area is green as it was picked too early.  Smell the peach-it should smell like you want it to taste.

   Members shared their ways of peeling and Triche recommended marking an X on the bottom, submerging for 40 seconds in boiling water and placing them in an ice bath and rubbing away the skin just like peeling tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

   In her kitchen, Triche demonstrated how to make peach scones. She first combines dry ingredients (3 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 ½ t. of baking powder, ¾ t. salt, ½ t. baking soda).  Triche uses self rising but then says the recipes usually call for regular flour but she is used to buying self rising from her years living in the high altitudes of Colorado. Triche uses butter in all her recipes-1/2 cup-and demonstrated working it into the flour mixture along with ½ cup shortening. She works it with her hands until the lumps are smaller than peas. She keeps thin shavings of orange peel in her freezer at all times for the zest recipes require and she added 1 T. of orange peel along with 1 cup plus 2 T of buttermilk to the recipe.  She prefers whole buttermilk, not skim or reduced fat.

   One cooking trick she showed was to lightly moisten the countertop area before sprinkling flour on it as the wet area does not hold the flour. She kneaded the dough until firm and patted it into a round and then added ¾ cup peaches which she worked into the mixture.

  She cut the 1 inch round into 10 wedges dipping her knife into flour to make the cuts smooth.  The triangles were placed on an ungreased cookie sheet, brushed with buttermilk and then she sprinkles raw sugar on top before baking at 425 for 15 minutes. Triche uses this recipe varying it to make blueberry scones and her favorite cranberry walnut scones.

   While the treat baked, members enjoyed a peaches, nuts and green salad with peach dressing.  The members each sampled a peach scone and then finished off with classic peach cobbler. Made using the traditional cup of sugar, cup of flour, stick of butter, and cup of milk recipe, Triche often increases the amount of butter to make a crispier tastier crust. Club members thoroughly enjoyed dining on such delicious food and chatting with friends in delightful surroundings and sharing their gardening triumphs and woes.

   The next meeting of the garden club will be Tuesday, June 8^th hosted by Sallie Mabon and Mary Anne Harman and will be a morning and luncheon event.