Weekend Edition: Bruised Doesn’t Mean Bad

and a peach & fig cobbler recipe

Our fig tree is packed with figs! This photo was taken even after we harvested most of the ripe fruit we could grab and took off the split fruit.

Fallen Fruit Makes The Best Cobblers

We got back from our two weeks in Manchester to our lawn littered with fallen fruit, especially peaches. The lawn looked more like a green cupcake with sprinkles than a pristine ornament of horticulture. Not that our garden ever looks like a manicured, pristine French garden. We’re a little too free growing and English cottage garden people. It’s not that we don’t take after it, it’s just that we appreciate a little wild flavor. 

While we were gone many of our fruit trees, especially the peaches, decided to ripen exactly when we were in Manchester. A big storm that blew in a few days before we got back knocked the majority of peaches off the tree, plus lots of the apples and pears. Many of our figs split from the rain (have you ever seen a split fig? They look like little aliens!) 

Much of what had fallen was too far gone, or munched on by little critters, to be anything but compost fodder. But we were able to save a handful of peaches, apples and pears that fell down. And we got a good fruit harvest from the fig tree, too. 

The fruit was a little bruised, but in my opinion bruised fruit is perfect for making dishes like cobbler or jam. 

I find that much of our opinion of things–whether it’s fruit or, honestly, even ourselves–is that if it isn’t pristine then it isn’t beautiful, it isn’t good or worthy of anything. I know this has been something I’ve struggled with throughout my life (talking personally here), getting caught in cycles of doubt, self-consciousness, disgust because of life’s bruises. 

The truth is: it isn’t true. Fruit or person, bruised doesn’t mean bad. We might need to change our initial plans, we may need to shift how we go about things, but bruised or not, we can still knock the socks of the world. 

So here’s a cobbler recipe for you to celebrate the beauty of bruises.