GET YOUR BRIX FIX

Serves: 4

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GET YOUR BRIX FIX

Ready in: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

Peaches & Grapes are the Sweetest Summer Fruits!We still wait every summer with great anticipation to sink our teeth into a sweet, juicy, fragrant, sun-ripened peach where the juice runs down your chin! And I’m the person (caught me!) that you’ll find squeezing all of the grapes to find the firm ones; crisp to the bite and bursting with juice.

Ingredients

PEACHES

• 3 pounds peaches, peeled and pitted
• 1/4 cup sugar, or more, to taste
• 1/2 cup mascarpone, crème fraîche or yogurt

THE BEST GRAPE SALAD

• 2 pounds of seedless green grapes
• 2 pounds seedless red grapes
• 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
• 8 ounces of sour cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

1. 3-MINUTE PEACH GELATO Using just three ingredients, peach gelato lets the fruit’s pure flavor shine in a refreshing finale. Better yet, it does it all without an ice cream machine. The texture is somewhere between soft-serve ice cream and dense, chewy traditional gelato. Depending on the sweetness of your peaches, you may want to add more sugar.
2. Cut the peaches into very small pieces. The smaller you cut them, the faster they will freeze and the finer the final texture will be. Arrange the peach pieces in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet and freeze solid for about 2 hours.
3. Put the frozen peach pieces in a food processor with the sugar and grind briefly. Add the mascarpone and pulse until the mixture is smooth.
4. Empty the food processor into a small container and freeze again, 20 to 30 minutes, before serving. If the ice cream freezes solid, simply process it briefly again before serving.

PEACHES:

1. Fresh Peach Bellinis
2. Grilled Peaches with Blue Cheese as a Starter
3. Grilled Peaches served with Chicken or Pork
4. Peach Caramel Upside-Down Cake
5. 3-Minutes Peach Gelato

GRAPES:

1. Frozen Grapes, as ice cubes in Cocktails
2. Grilled Grapes, on the vine, on a Cheese Platter
3. The Best Grape Salad
4. BBQ Chicken Salad with Fresh Grapes, Toasted Pecans & Apples
5. Rustic Grape Tart

1. Wash and stem the grapes, then dry them well. Cream together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Combine the grapes with the sauce and place in a serving bowl. Top with the pecans and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Toss well before serving.
2. I love finding inspiration at local farmers’ markets, where stone fruit and grapes are at the peak of their season this Summer. Peaches are prevalent and are perfect in hand pies and, sorbets and crostatas; they are oh-so-sweet! And the grapes that abound, big bunches of crisp and sweet goodness, are as good as I’ve ever tasted. And it’s all about the brix.
3. The Brix Level is used in the food industry to measure the approximate amount of sugar in fruit. It’s determined by a refractometer (you often see Winemakers using a refractometer in the fields when you see photos of vineyards), which is a telescope-looking contraption that uses a speck of the fruit's juice to measure the Brix. Different fruits have different Brix concentrations and ripeness levels vary for fruits ranging from apples to watermelons. This season’s peaches are registering at about 17 and the U.S. average is only 11.8, so you’re in for a treat!
4. Once you’ve bought up a bevy of peaches and grapes, here’s what we think you should make…

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