is more than just recipes 500 treats plus interviews and photos fill Peaches & Past Times By Mike Nichols
ee Totzke can get you in a jam, or a fuzzy almond or even a stuffed peach. As a matter of fact, this Love County Farm Bureau member has about 500 tested recipes using peaches he can get you into in his new book, Peaches & Past Times Cookbook. The unique book is both a written and pictorial history of peaches and contains recipes for all cooking skill levels. Its pages cover thousands of miles, three centuries and generations of peach growers. The one definite difference between this cookbook and others on the market is the collection of interviews it contains, which makes the recipes more personal. “I started out to do a small, regional cookbook for southwest Michigan peach growers,” said Lee, who grew up in that part of the Wolverine State in a family of fruit growers near the largest wholesale grower-to-buyer fresh fruit market in the United States. “It was the first time I’ve done such a thing.” 28 • Oklahoma Country • Summer 2006
Lee’s father was from a family of 18 children, and his mother was from a family of 13 children. “I inherited all of those old family recipes,” he said. Some of the recipes in the book came from his mother’s old metal recipe box. When he began working on the book, word leaked and his life for the next few years became “peachy.” He was contacted by peach growers in the Stratford area who learned what he was doing, and before his writing and collection journey concluded even the president of the National Peach Growers Association rang his phone. That call convinced Lee to “go national with the book.” “The word spread. . .One interview started by phone and concluded with me driving over a thousand miles. I needed to look the person in the eyes. Another started at a dining room table and ended hours later in the attic. “Meeting with the original growers’