Dare to chill a peach? Yes, it's a soup

Garnish the soup with a few thin slices of peach before serving. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

The homegrown Honey Babe peach in the one in the front.

I dearly love peaches, and have long wanted to make the chilled peach soup recipe in

The cookbook is full of sweet and savory dishes as well as stories by David Mas Masumoto, whose family has grown heirloom peaches in the San Joaquin Valley for generations. (He gained national acclaim for the memoir "Epitaph for a Peach" in 1995, and has written other books since.)

Marcy Masumoto, his wife, developed this particular recipe.  Interestingly, I found her version too creamy and not "peachy" enough. So the recipe below reflects my changes. The carrot puree may seem an odd inclusion, but it does give the soup some depth, and contributes to the lovely color.

I found some beautiful ripe peaches at our local fruit stand, but also included one of my six precious Honey Babe peaches, the total harvest from my miniature backyard peach tree. The peach nectar in the recipe is found in soda-like aluminum cans, usually in a store's juice section.

A hot water bath followed by a plunge into ice will loosen the skins on peaches. It works on tomatoes, too.

Chilled peach soup

Serves 4 to 6 as appetizer or brunch dish

Ingredients:

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced or diced, about 1/2 cup

2 to 3 very ripe peaches (the Masumotos call them "gushers")

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt

6 tablespoons canned peach nectar, divided

2 tablespoons half-and-half

Kosher salt

For garnish:

2 fresh peaches, one peeled and diced, the other thinly sliced, peeling optional (depends on how fuzzy it is)

Instructions:

Place the carrot pieces in a small saucepan and cover with about 1 cup cold water. Bring to a boil and then simmer on medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, until a knife point can easily pierce a carrot piece. Set the pan aside for the carrots to cool; do not drain.

Peel the 2 to 3 "gusher" peaches by cutting an X into the pointed end and dropping them into a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a bowl of ice water for a minute, then peel.

Slice the peeled peaches into the container of a blender. Blend on medium high until they are fully pureed. Pour out into a liquid measuring cup. You should have at least 1 cup of puree.

Don't clean the blender yet: Place the cooked carrots and 1/2 cup of their cooking liquid in the blender container and puree it. Pour in the peach puree, pulse to blend, then add the grated ginger, the lime juice, yogurt, 4 tablespoons of the peach nectar, and the half-and-half.

Fresh peach pieces go into the bowl before the soup is poured over them.

Before serving, add about 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, then taste the soup. Adjust the taste and consistency by using more peach nectar, more salt or more lime juice, as preferred.

To serve, place  a generous 1 tablespoon of the diced garnish peach in the bottom of a chilled bowl or ice cream dish. Pour about 1/2 cup of soup over the diced peaches, then garnish with 2 thin slices of the other garnish peach.