#pepper-peach

Ayala's Culinary Notes:

If you should happen to find yourself roaming the surface of Mania on a clear, sunny day, be on the lookout for a stocky tree with widely outstretched branches.

If you are lucky, you will stumble across a rare delight. One which can make the daily struggles feel just a little less intense, should you take the time to enjoy its blessing.

These trees are few and far between, and they are easy to overlook in a rush. They can easily blend into the surrounding landscape. Especially if you happen to have landed on a dryer portion of the moon. Their bark is bitter brown and their leaves a sickly looking green, but the fruit that they produce is wonderful nonetheless.

They quite resemble peaches. Their pink skin is cloaked with a peculiar fuzz that I find surprisingly pleasant to the touch. It makes them easier to hold onto when it comes time to pluck them from the thick stems that support their hefty weight.

These pretty pink fruit may be surrounded by a few unripe sisters. Their bodies will be smaller and harder, and their skin will be a deep ruby red.

When bitten into, you'll reveal a beautiful amber flesh, which is rich in juice. When you taste it, you will find the sweetness of the fruit subdued, and almost like a distant afterthought to the more distinct peppery notes.

The Pepper-peach is sweet and spicy. Comparable to fresh pepper berries, but with a less intense peppery bite to them. The ratio of sweet to spice differs slightly from tree to tree, but I have found than in most cases, the fruit will be significantly more spicy than it is sweet.

When eaten raw, they make for a pleasant, peppery snack. But they can be made into jam, grilled, and even added to meat based dishes in order to add an extra boost of flavor.

I have spent a lot of time learning how to best utilize this fruit. To this day I can recall the tentative hope that I felt upon discovering the tree. Hope that the constant gnawing of my stomach could be safely satiated by these familiar, and yet completely alien fruit that I had found.

I gathered as many as I could carry. And then my first hesitant experiments began.

I first left the fruit out to be sampled by the wildlife. After all, the native fauna would know best if these fruit happened to contain any toxins.

Not one beast shied away from the fruit. From the circuit bees to the manticoli, down to the Bracken that I often found myself sharping space with. Anything that was given the opportunity to eat this strange new fruit happily seized it.

While that revelation was encouraging, I knew that I still needed to be cautious. If the fruit was poisonous, then the based case scenario was that I would get some stomach trouble when I dared to take that first bite. In the worst case scenario, the fruit might prove so toxic to humans that it would kill me in a horrific fashion.

I will not lie. My first response to the peppery taste was fear. The unexpected flavor and the tingling feeling that it left on my tongue led me to believe that I was having a mild allergic reaction, or that the fruit was indeed poisonous. But as the hours ticked by and I experienced no complications, I allowed myself a few additional bites to see if anything might change.

Needless to say, I went through a lot of trial and error that ultimately did not need to happen. But it is always better to err on the side of caution. One wrong move, and what you think is a tasty meal might wind up being you last. And those final hours will likely be spent in an intense amount of pain, likely while you spray various bodily fluids out of any available orifice...

Anyways. These notes exist so that anyone with access to them will know what I have tried. Be it a success or a failure. Not everything that I have eaten has been edible. Not everything that seems unassuming has been safe. My hardships exist to make your survival easier. And if I cannot pull off any greater feat, I am content to know that my lineage helps to make things just a little easier for anyone else who walks a mile in my shoes.

While I do not have a lot of recipes that primarily feature the Pepper-Peach as a central ingredient... That is because I have found that they are best in these recipes, or otherwise used as a condiment. One of these recipes specifically details how to turn this fruit into a spice, which you can then use to season your food.

PEPPER-PEACH RECIPES:

Grilled Pepper-Peach: Ingredients: Pepper-Peaches, Red Honey, Salt (optional)

Clean and peel your peaches (the skin does not react well to heat and easily burns, so it must be removed). Cut each peach into quarters, then cut each quarter in half to get 8 even slices.

If you have salt, sprinkle each slice with salt. Then glaze each peach slice with some fresh honey.

Place each slice cut side down atop a hot metal surface, over low embers.

Gently cook each slice, 2-3 minutes on each side or until the honey just barely begins to caramelize.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Then enjoy! These peaches will be soft and fragrant, with intense sweet and peppery flavors that coat the palate.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

Pepper-Peach Stew: Ingredients: 2 Pepper-Peaches, 1/2 pound any Meat, 1 cup any vegetable (optional), and 1/2 cup any grain (optional), 2-4 cups water (or milk)

Take your meat and chop it into small chunks. Then brown those chunks in a shallow (preferably deep if I'm being honest) vessel, over a low flame. Stir rarely to allow a nice crust to form on the meat and on the bottom of the cooking implement.

Thoroughly clean your peaches. Then quarter them, and cut each section into 4 slices. Cut each of those slices in half. Add them directly to the meat and/or vegetables. Do not mix. This will reduce the risk of burning the skins while you prep the other ingredients, if you have them.

Clean and chop your vegetables into bite sized pieces, if you happen to have them. And if you are able to add grain, rinse the grain with cold water. Add whichever you have to the pot. If you have neither, ignore this step.

Add water to your cooking vessel. 2-4 cups, or until you half fill the dish. If you happen to have milk, you can use it entirely in place of water, or in a 50/50 ratio for a less thick broth. Bring to a nice, even simmer while stirring regularly to assure that you get all the tasty bits off of the bottom of the dish.

Allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every so often to prevent burning. Then remove from heat.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Then enjoy.

This savory stew has a wonderful kick from the Pepper-Peaches, and a deep flavor due to the browned meat. Even if the dish only contains these two base elements, you are in for a flavorful meal that is sure to leave you full and satisfied. The inclusion of vegetables and grains will only make it more filling while adding to the range of textures and flavors.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

Pepper-Peach Jam: Ingredients: Pepper-Peaches, Red Honey

Thoroughly clean then peel your peaches, and finely chop the flesh. Combine with honey in a shallow cooking vessel, and cook.

Cook and cook until the majority of the moisture evaporates and you are left with a thick, amber sauce that clings to the back of a spoon (or whatever else it is that you happen to be using to cook).

Pour mixtures into a thoroughly cleaned jar with a lid and seal, then allow to cool. You will know that you have jarred your jam correctly when you hear the lid pop; it means that you have created an airtight seal that will keep all external contaminants out of the food.

In terms of ratio, you'll want to use at least 1/4 cup of honey per every 1/2 cup of fruit used. And if you have the ability, upwards of 1/2 cup honey per 1/2 cup fruit. This is less to add to the sweetness and more to reduce the risk of mold once the jam is made. More sugar + less water = no mold!

Anyways. This jam has an incredibly sweet start with an intense, peppery finish that leaves the tongue tingling. It can be eaten as is, or used in any recipes where jam is a suitable ingredient.

You can also smear it on rocks (or just dump some on the ground) to lure Circuit Bees away from their hive. But be warned - once the honey has been gobbled up and they go looking for their hive, they will immediately get hostile.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

Dried Pepper-Peach: Ingredients: Pepper-Peaches

Wash and peel your pepper peaches. Then quarter them, and quarter each of the four segments. Your goal is to get the fruit nice and thin, so that it will better dry and pulverize.

Once your peaches are sliced, allow them to sit for 20 minutes so that excess moister can be drawn out by the open air.

While the peaches drain, prepare your drying area. It needs to be two pieces of metal with multiple tiny holes, which will allow idea air flow and prevent moisture from building up.

Once the peaches have had time to drain, arrange the slices on your bottom layer of metal. Then sandwich the peaches with the top sheet.

You may apply a weight on top to better flatten the peaches, so long as the object in question will not excessively inhibit air flow.

Place your makeshift drying rack over low embers, and allow the heat to slowly cook and dry them.

This process can take anywhere from 12 hours to a day. It will always be best to cook them for longer if you can, as the goal is to completely remove any moisture that might be found in the fruit.

These dried peaches are not meant to be eaten directly. Once dried, their peppery flavor becomes incredibly intense and unappetizing. But if these dried slices are ground into a powder, then that powder may be mixed into any food that you feel will require a potent, peppery taste (and a kick of heat).

Once they are dried, unless you happen to have some sort of zester at hand (and if you do, damn. I'm jealous), you are going to need to grind them up by hand. Which is easier said than done. Because if you do not have a proper pestle and mortar (I find myself fortunate enough to have gotten one), you are going to need to use rocks and metal.

I have no real instructions for how to do that. Just crush the peaches, and then crush them some more, until you're left with a very fine powder.

This powder can be stored in glass containers or in paper packages. Use it whenever you find yourself in need of an emergency flavor boost.

Or use it as makeshift itching powder. This fine dust irritates the tongue, eyes, and nose. So it can be used to deter everything from the blind dogs to the hoarding bugs. Maybe even the giants, if you happen to be brave enough to test that theory.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

Pepper-Peach and Cream: Ingredients: Pepper-Peach, Milk, Honey

Clean and peel your peach (or peaches). Quarter and slice. Then you can either finely chop those slices, or mash them up.

Once that is done, combine with milk and honey, then enjoy. This makes for a sweet and creamy dish that has a faint peppery kick, as the milk actually counteracts the majority of the heat.

I use a ratio of 1/2 cup milk and 2 tablespoons honey for every peach that I have included in the dish.

And as always-