The Peach Tart We Love!

Summer fruit is now at it’s peak and if you’re like me you take this very seriously. As manager of the Old Town Newhall Farmers Market, I have to. Myself and my family blind taste test the fruit at our market against farmers from other markets and even supermarket fruit. It is important for us to ensure our farmers are selling nothing but the best.
Farmers that sell at farmers markets grow for quality and not quantity. So oftentimes you will find these farmers growing varieties you will never see in supermarkets. These varieties may be harder to grow or yield smaller fruit which make them less profitable. But our farmers come face to face with their customers every week and they keep their customers by growing the highest quality fruit.
Take peaches, they have been around for almost 8,000 years and today there are hundreds of varieties. While you may only see a small handful of varieties in supermarkets, local farmers market farmers grow as many as 80 different kinds. Many of these ripen at different times during the season.
Supermarket produce suppliers can place fruit in cold storage for months before it hits store shelves. But by having so many different varieties that ripen at different times, peaches you see at a farmers market can be picked and sold within days.
So, when we hold a blind taste test of peaches, it’s easy to pick out the supermarket peach. As for the farmer with the best peach, we have found that honor can rotate between farmers from week to week. But the differences between farmers is minimal, which shows the high quality of everything found at a farmers market.
With peach season well underway, famous varieties such as August Flame and O’Henry are now hitting the farmers markets. If you get your hands on some, we have the perfect recipe that is both easy and shows off their beautiful colors.
Don’t be intimidated by the picture. The crust is an easy no-roll crust. Putting this together is easy.

Ingredients for the Crust
• 8 Tbsp (113 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 3 Tbsp ground almonds
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions for Crust
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Melt butter in saucepan.
• Combine flour, sugar, ground almonds
and salt in medium bowl.
• Add melted butter and almond extract
to bowl and combine using fork until dough
is formed.
• Press the dough mixture into bottom and up
sides of a tart pan or pie dish.
• Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let
cool on a wire rack.

Ingredients for the Filling
• 4 or 5 Ripe but firm freestone peaches,
pitted and cut into ¼ inch thick wedges
• 1/4 cup peach jam
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Confectioners (powdered) sugar

Instructions for Filling
• Spread peach preserves on top of crust in the bottom of pan. Add peach wedges starting from the outside and moving in a circular pattern until filled in.
• Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the peaches evenly.
• Bake 25-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven until preserves are bubbling around the edges. Remove and let cool.
• Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

The Old Town Newhall Farmers Market is a certified farmers market bringing Santa Clarita true farm direct produce and the finest food products available in Santa Clarita. It operates year round, every Saturday from 8:30am until 1:00pm. It is located in the parking lot of the Old Town Newhall Library at 24500 Main Street in Newhall.

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