What’s coming up: Peaches

The Free Lance-Star food section and the Front Burner blog are reviving a popular feature from years past. Each week we will feature a vegetable or fruit that is in season in our area and offer tips on selection and cooking. Here on the blog, please feel free to offer your own serving suggestions for these seasonal delights!

This week’s feature: Peaches

When it’s fresh here: July and August

Fun fact: We think of peaches as a Southern fruit, but the first peach trees weren’t planted in the Southern U.S. until 1857. The fruit is originally from China.

Pick and choose: Look for peaches with a little give when squeezed. Peaches should be fragrant. You should avoid large bruises, but little dents, often caused by bug bites early in the peach’s development, shouldn’t affect flavor.

Quick serving ideas:

• Good peaches really will be best eaten whole over the sink. There really is no better way.
• If you don’t have time to make peach ice cream, whip up a peach milkshake with some good vanilla ice cream in a blender. This is a seasonal treat you shouldn’t miss.
• Add fresh peaches to salads and salsas.