Chilled Peach Soup

The past week or so has confirmed that summer has come to Washington, DC. Last Saturday, as the temperature flirted with triple digits and the city suffered through an early heat wave, visions of Whole Foods chilled soups danced in my head. Last summer I lived a mere half block from Whole Foods, and running across the street to pick up a quart of gazpacho or chilled peach soup was but the work of a moment. I've moved since then - it's about half a mile to Whole Foods from my new apartment - so if I walk over there, I expect to come home with a loaded sack.

Unfortunately, the recent tomato salmonella scare had triggered a decision to pull all fresh gazpacho from the shelves - strike 1. The shelves were also woefully lacking containers of chilled peach soup - strike 2. The store employees also had no idea if or when these summer staples would return to the refrigerated case - strike 3.

All was not lost, however. Instead of resigning myself to eating fresh French bread with no accompaniment, I decided to try my hand at making my own chilled peach soup. I had to use canned peaches, since I didn't have any fresh peaches on hand, but this did have the added benefit of less time spent peeling and slicing! Overall, the experiment worked out pretty well - and cost quite a bit less than the $5.99 Whole Foods charges.

Chilled Peach Soup (2-3 servings)
1 15 oz. can peaches or 3 cups fresh peaches (peeled)
1 cup yogurt
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. almond extract
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Dice peaches into small (1/4") cubes.

2. Combine peaches, yogurt, lemon juice, almond extract, and cinnamon in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher/ricer until well blended. If the soup is too thick, add syrup from canned peaches, orange juice, or white grape juice until desired thickness is reached. (For those who like a smoother soup, use a blender or food processor for this step.)

3. Chill for at least 1 hr. and serve. Garnish with fresh mint, cinnamon, or peach slices, if desired.

I used peach yogurt when I made this, which made the soup even peachier - others may wish to use plain yogurt or to experiment with other flavors of yogurt (apricot mango? raspberry?). I'm also considering making a larger batch of this soup, using half peaches and half mangoes for the fruit portion.