Katherine Barlow was famous in the town of Green Lake long before she became the renowned outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow. As a schoolteacher, she was admired in town for her beauty and intelligence but most especially for her spiced peaches, which won her first prize at the Fourth of July picnic every year. She picked the peaches from the trees that lined the lake and jarred them using her own special recipe, involving "cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and other spices which she kept secret."

It was said that Green Lake was "heaven on earth" and that Miss Katherine's spiced peaches were "food for the angels."

The townspeople adored her concoction, so much so that they always finished them before winter came, even though they were preserved so well they could last far longer.

It was these peaches that Katherine traded with Sam in exchange for his services repairing the schoolhouse. It was the thing of value that she can offer him. Sam had jars of Katherine's famous peaches with him when his boat was destroyed and he was shot and killed by Trout Walker. Being so well preserved by Kate, they survive the next hundred years buried under the boat and are eventually found by Stanley and Zero. The boys never know that the miracle mush that keeps them alive in the desert is the work of famous outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow.