Years ago, dad used to take us peach picking at a peach orchard in the suburbs of Amman. The farm was run by an old couple in their late seventies. They lived a simple life. They owned a huge farm yet they lived in a small simple house, taking care of their farm and a few chickens and goats they raised to get milk and eggs for their home use. Living in a city for my whole life, close encounters with animals were beyond exciting. I would watch the chicken’s every move with enchantment and me and my brother couldn’t wait to go home to tell mum about the things that we saw, what the animals ate and did, how they play and move, every single detail was interesting and exciting (at least to us)

The old couple offered ready picked peaches that you can buy  but if you were a regular customer and they liked you, you got a guided tour from the old man and a chance to pick your own peaches. He used to say that not everyone is fit to pick fruits from a tree. You need to be gentle, taking care not to break the branches or injure them as you pick the peaches. The trees were his friends, each is a unique being that he cheriched.He knew which trees had the biggest peaches, which had the juiciest ones and which carried the sweetest peaches.

My brother and I would have a wonderful time hunting for the perfect peaches hidden between the green leaves.They were big, fuzzy and fragrant. We would go home with loads of peaches (it is easy to get carried away when fresh, hand-picked fruit is involved). We would eat them as, and I have yet to taste peaches that are half as good as they were. Mum would make peach juice, jam, preserves, you name it and we would enjoy them all year till the next summer comes around and we can go on our peach hunts again.

Nowadays,  one of my favorite things to do with peaches, other than eat them raw, dripping with juice is to make these peach and melon pops. The combination may sound strange at first but melon, peach and vanilla is a mix that you have to try! I first tried melons and vanilla after seeing this post at Ray’s wonderful blog but then one day I had some peaches that were over ripe and needed to be used ASAP and I thought why not. The result was beyond amazing and the peach and melon officially became my favorite popsicle flavor combination

Peach and melon popsicle

2 cups peeled and sliced peaches

2 cups peeled and sliced melon (I used  honeydew but cantaloupe will work too)

1 cup water

Sugar to taste (the amount of sugar is up to your taste and how sweet your fruit are)

2 teaspoons vanilla

Place all the ingredients in the food processor or blender and blend till smooth

Pour the peach and melon blend in your popsicle molds or in paper cups

Freeze for 5-6 hours

Notes:

If you don’t have popsicle molds you can use paper or plastic cups, cover them with plastic wrap and poke the popsicle sticks (or chopsticks that you have cut in half) through the plastic wrap to hold them in place.

You can use this same recipe to make sorbet, just pour the mix in a wide container, place in the freezer. Then take it out every couple of hours, take the container out and stir to break the ice crystals

You can also serve this as a drink, freeze the peach and melon pieces then pulse them in the blender or food processor. The frozen fruit will give the drink a thick and creamy smoothy like consistency