James and the Giant Peach; Peach Juice

‘It was quite a large hole, the sort of thing an animal about the size of a fox might have made.

James knelt down in front of it, and poked his head and shoulders inside.

He crawled in.

He kept on crawling.

This isn’t a hole, he thought excitedly. It’s a tunnel!

The tunnel was damp and murky, and all around him there was the curious bittersweet smell of fresh peach. The floor was soggy under his knees, the walls were wet and sticky, and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling. James opened his mouth and caught some of it on his tongue. It tasted delicious.

He was crawling uphill now, as though the tunnel were leading straight towards the very centre of the gigantic fruit. Every few seconds he paused and took a bite out of the wall. The peach flesh was sweet and juicy, and marvelously refreshing.’

-James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl

For those who haven’t read the book, the image is inspired from the section where James loops thread made from Silkworm and Miss Spider around the necks of hundreds of seagulls. It lifts the peach out of the water, through the sky and safely away from peach eating sharks.

When you can buy a kilo of this softly fuzzed fruit for a gold coin, you know it’s peach season. It’s time to let the golden liquid dribble down your chin, lick your sticky fingers and then go grab another one.

And to make peach juice.

If you don’t have a juicer, or just want to have fun and make it by hand, wash a kilo of peaches, pluck out the stems and put a tiny slice in the bottom of each peach.

Meanwhile, take a large saucepan and set over high heat. While the water is heating up, in another large bowl or in the ktichen sink, pour in cold water- ice water preferred.

Once the water on the stove is boiling, pop all the peaches in and let boil for a few minutes, until you see the skin around the corners of the slices start to pull back or peel. Pull the peaches out and quickly pop them into the cold water for a few minutes. This will make the skin incredibly easy to pull off.

Once peeled, slice the peaches in half, pull out the pits, or if they’ve split, make sure all the hard middle is removed. Next place a mesh food strainer over a bowl, and using the back of a spoon or fork, mash the peach into the strainer. The juice and fine bits of the peach fibres will go through, leaving the larger pulpy chunks behind. Scrap the underside of the strainer to make sure all the juice is in the bowl. Once you’ve juiced all the peaches, pour it into a jug.

You’ve got a choice here. To dilute it, as it’ll be too thick to pour, you can either add 1/2 cup of filtered water, or you can add your own mix like apple juice. Stir well, chill and serve.