I just ate the most exquisite nectarine I’ve had this summer and possibly in several recent summers. There’s more where that came from and I’m going to savor each one. The plums are nearly as good as well. Maybe need another day to fully ripen. I’ve got a bowl of cherries waiting. Life, being what it is, I should probably temper my expectations.
I’ve been on a navel orange kick lately. They’ve been really good the last couple months.
My summertime favorite are peaches, preferably yellow freestone peaches. Cherries are good too, but have a much shorter season.
Our neighbors/friends have a commercial apple orchard. The apples are great, but I especially love the peaches that they grow in a tiny corner of the orchard. We eat as many as we can, then they’re gone till the next year. I love to grill them just before they’re ripe, drizzling honey and balsamic vinegar on them while they cook.
I got some ‘sweet Bing’ cherries last week, cheap at 99 cents a pounds. Yea, they were probably too cheap to be realistic this early. The were small and not juicy at all. I’ll be generous and give them a ‘fair’ grade, better than they deserved to be at that price but won’t buy any more till the real season is in full swing.
I got my peaches from The Peach Truck as I do every year. In anticipation of the peaches I stopped at the store and got cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes, cherries and blueberries. Then I made a big fruit salad all for myself, with pieces to spare.
I friggin love fruit. I hope I get through it all before it spoils. But also I wish I had more.
I went through a bag of Darlings in a 24 hour period the other day. Lol
7 years ago my wife and I stumbled on a fruit stand in Maryhill, Washington called Gunkel Fruit. It is in the Columbia River Gorge. They grow their own peaches and have about 20 different varieties. We sampled some and fell in love with them. We stocked up on canned and fresh peaches and enjoyed them all. I was surprised by how good some of the lesser known types tasted. Since then, we have made a journey to Gunkels for their peaches each summer except last year. We will be going next month, I have already placed my order for the canned peaches so I won’t miss out on a few of the varieties that will be sold out by the time we get there.
I’m going to Michigan for business next week, and there’s a blueberry farm along the way (in Sawyer). I was looking forward to visiting the farm, but I just looked at their website, and they don’t open until next Friday (a day or two after I leave). Son of a BITCH!
I always look forward to the delicious blueberries from the bushes in my back yard. Sadly, the 116° heat last week cooked them just as they were ripening. It’s going to be an exceptionally crappy season this year.
I recently moved from Los Angeles to the east coast. Peaches are my favorite fruit. In LA, they were not good, abundant, or inexpensive, as it appears that they are not really grown in the vicinity.
But now that I am where I am, OH MY! “Millions of peaches, peaches for me!”
The fresh fig harvest from our trees is in full swing, with 55 of the breba crop already picked and Mrs. J. planning on making homemade fig newtons from the ones I’ve prepared in the food dryer.
Just one “Chicago Hardy” tree that I overwintered in the ground has at least 75 main crop figs ripening on it, so that with weather permitting we’ll more than double our overall harvest from last year.
Interesting. I just learned a little bit about fig harvests and the different types of fig trees, including male and female species of fig trees, as well as the importance of fig wasps for pollination. I envy anyone who cultivates rare fruits such as figs and persimmons. I can’t get eat enough of either.
All the figs I grow (and the great majority grown by fig enthusiasts) are “common” figs, meaning they self-pollinate and don’t need the tiny wasps for pollination. In some warm climates (including California and parts of the Middle East) they grow Smyrna figs, which have female flowers that need to be pollinated by caprifigs (which have male flowers), which is where the wasp comes in.
To get figs for fresh eating, you can grow a tree or two in a large pot or tub. If it tends to get down below 15F or so in winter, dormant trees can be stored in a garage or cool basement.
Love me some Ranier cherries! Season too short, and they do cost more, but oh so good!
Also like regular red sweet cherries, plums in season, apples in season (especially Jonathans, which are getting harder to find each year), berries in season…
One of the joys of summer is fresh fruit, the more local the better.
I was in Costco and they had two pounds of Bing cherries for five dollars but two pounds of Rainier cherries for ten bucks. Are they that much better?
Double the price for Ranier vs. Bing is pretty common, yes.
Are they worth it? For some of us, yes. YMMV
In my experience, Bings have a wider range of quality, while a Ranier is pretty damn tasty no matter what. So the typical Bings at the chain grocery, selected more for durability, can be lacking in flavor. If that’s the choice, then Ranier is worth a little more (although double the price seems excessive).
But I’m spoiled in Portland, where I can get Bings (and other reds like Van, Lupin, and Chelan) picked yesterday at the farmers market. And there I won’t bother paying more for Raniers because the reds are just as good.
Sadly, it is winter here. But just popping in to say that the best thing to do with summer fruit is make summer pudding.
Add a little brandy to that, and I’m sold.