Tapping into the freshness of frozen foods now readily available – Orange County Register

Shop locally and seasonally – words we hear much these days from those trying to reduce their carbon footprint.

We’re so spoiled by the globalization of produce – cantaloupe in December! – as well as modern methods of preservation, such as freezing, that shopping locally and seasonally takes a bit of effort.

Actually, freezing food dates back to 3000 B.C., when the Chinese preserved food in ice cellars and the Romans used compressed snow. In 1917, Clarence Birdseye observed the Inuits “flash”-freezing the fish they caught in the extremely cold Arctic and noted its quality and freshness when thawed.

After much experimentation, it took until the 1950s for the first frozen foods to become available in the U.S.

While chefs and cookbook authors continue to recommend fresh over frozen, consumers are noticing that flash-frozen food is often fresher than the fresh food you buy in the market, which might be days or more from harvest.

My daughter-in-law, Shelly Kancigor, has found that to be true with the frozen peaches she uses to make these luscious Peach Cobbler Cookies.

“I started making these peach cookies in the summertime when peaches were plentiful, but found it’s a lot quicker to use frozen fruit,” she said. “Otherwise, you have to peel them, and sometimes fresh peaches are woody and maybe not sweet. It saves you an hour if you don’t have to peel the peaches.

“The frozen ones come peeled and sliced – I chop them up a bit further – and they’re consistently perfect every time,” she added. “And I did not have to adjust this recipe at all when I switched to frozen. You want to eat fresh peaches in season if they’re sweet and juicy, but peeling them is an unnecessary waste of time.”

Shelly takes her recipe from the Blue Bowl blog by Stephanie Simmons, find it at bluebowlrecipes.com/peach-cobbler-cookies.

Shelly works in retail sales at Alo Yoga, the upscale athleisure clothing store, in Phoenix, where her family moved from Minnesota almost three years ago. She began bringing cookies to work, and these peach cookies quickly became a favorite.

“There are young college kids working there, and they eat a lot of processed foods,” she said, “and I wanted to bring them some home-baked treats. They love it and request their favorites. I think they miss it from home. I don’t mind doing it. I enjoy baking, and now I have people to bake for.”

Another favorite with her coworkers is her banana oatmeal triple chocolate chip cookie.

“I use butterscotch chips, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips,” she explained. “I do a banana purée as my base with an oatmeal cookie recipe. It’s very banana-y. I made that one up. They request it all the time.

“For Christmas I made a very nice frosted sugar cookie with red sprinkles,” she added. “They melt in your mouth. I cut them out with a glass dipped in red sugar and then bake them.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

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