Eat a Perfect Peach Today!

YumSugar — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:41:41 -0700

Believe it or not, today is Eat a Peach Day - if you don't believe me, maybe the fact that you can send ecards celebrating it might persuade you. In honor of the day, I say you go out and have yourself a lovely unadulterated peach. First, you'll have to pick yourself a good one, here are a few tips on how to do that:

Peaches are very delicate, so pick them up gently to avoid bruising.
Select peaches that are slightly soft to firm when pressed, avoid ones with soft spots.
Be sure to smell for fragrant peaches. The more fragrant the smell, the sweeter it should be.
Look for evenly shaped peaches and avoid ones with blemishes.
Stay away from ones with green tints as they will not ripen fully.
Although they continue to ripen after picked, the sugar production ceases. So even though they will soften, if they are not sweet when hard, they won't become sweeter when soft.
You can soften peaches faster by placing them in a loosely sealed brown paper bag.
Yellow peaches are the most common, but white is also widely available and has a slightly more delicate flavor.

Do you have any great peach picking tips? Let us know in the comments below!

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Toast to Mom

partysugar — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:30:26 -0700

If you're thinking of sending your mom an ecard this Mother's Day, send one from Toast to Mom. This website is partnering with Clos du Bois - one of my favorite affordable wine makers - to raise money for women's heart disease.

For each sent ecard, Clos du Bois will donate $1 to the cause. The site also has tips for healthy living and some delicious-looking recipes for grilled shrimp with mango salsa and spicy oven fried chicken. I've already sent etoasts to the important mothers in my life and suggest you do the same!