A MARVELOUS DESSERT FOR TWO

After a friend tipped us off that the farm was open, last Wednesday, Frank and I took a drive down to McBee, South Carolina, to McLeod Farms, the home of the best peaches in the world. We bought a quarter-peck of the crop of early cling peaches, a quart of blackberries, a quart of luscious strawberries, several pounds of new red potatoes, tomatoes, a green pepper, and a nice chunk of Clemson Blue cheese. We’ve been eating well for days.

Last night we had potato salad from the reds, a tuna salad piled on chunks of one of the huge tomatoes, and, for dessert, the last of the strawberries and the first of the peaches. The peaches have taken a few days to ripen more.

This dessert is one I’ve been concocting for years. It’s simple:

--Cut up or sliced fruit or berries enough for two. Any fruit or berries, peaches are great, so are apples in the fall, and pineapple, even bananas, are great - but I’ve never used melons.

--Melt about two tablespoons of butter, put in your fruit, sauté it a bit, then add a tablespoon of brown sugar and a dollop of rum. Last night I also added the last of the juice from the strawberries. Simmer it a while to thicken the liquids.

Speaking of those strawberries, Saturday morning, I took some of the juice and maple syrup, thickened them a bit, and we had them over waffles. So good! So - I keep a 750ml bottle of Meyer’s Original Dark rum just for these deserts. It’s up there with the oils and vinegars and other staples.

We’re out of Trader Joe’s French Vanilla ice cream, the best vanilla ever, so I served this over coffee ice cream. My mouth had a party!

And, in case you were wondering, we had some blackberries for a dessert, then on our morning cereal, and I froze the rest - 5 cups-worth. I plan to use them in pancakes. Fruit in pancakes is another taste treat.