This Month at the Castro Street Farmer’s Market: Summer Stone Fruits

By Debra Morris–

The fruits of summer—juicy melons, sweet cherries, luscious berries, plump figs, and succulent grapes—are what we wait for all year long, but it all begins with the utter bliss of biting into a sweet, juicy peach or nectarine. In their infinite variety and their mouthwatering flavors, stone fruits serve as a glorious introduction to the hot days of summer.

Arriving this month at your Castro Farmers’ Market, and for the next few months, are peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, apricots, apriums, and other varieties of stone fruits. These fruits, so named because they all have large “stones,” come in all shapes, sizes, and flavor profiles. Some are the cling variety, meaning the flesh adheres to the pit, while others are freestone, where the flesh is easily separated from the stone. There are even new varieties like the plumcot, nectaplum, golden plum, and others making their way to your farmers’ market.

So now that you’ve picked up a nice big bag of stone fruits, here is what to do with them, besides eating them out of hand—which is a very good way to enjoy them!

• Grill: Toss some peach and nectarine halves on the grill. The heat intensifies the sweetness and caramelizes their natural sugars.
• Salsa: Chop up peaches and/or nectarines, add a finely chopped jalapeño, some lime juice, fresh cilantro, chopped tomato, chopped onion, and a bit of salt and pepper. Serve on fish, pork, or add some tortilla chips.
• Preserve: Get out the canning jars and can sliced fruit in light syrup, or make jam. Canned summer peaches in the middle of winter? Divine!
• Sauces: Cook down the fruit with either brown sugar or white sugar, water, and butter, until desired consistency and serve over pork, chicken, or even over ice cream.
• Salads: Slice them and add to a plate of fresh summer greens, goat cheese or feta, and a fruity vinaigrette.
• Dessert: Make a mixed stone fruit cobbler, galette, or crisp. Just add ice cream!
• Bruschetta: Top toasted baguette slices with chopped fruit, goat cheese, and fresh mint.

When preparing stone fruits, use the freshest fruits for the best results. At the Castro Farmers’ Market, you’ll find only the finest stone fruits from Allard Farms from Westley, which has a nice variety of delicious apricots, a nectaplum variety, a dozen different nectarine and peach varieties, pluots, and plumcots. Ken’s Top Notch out of Reedley has a wide variety of peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots from which to choose. Rodin Farms in Oakdale offers lovely apricots, both white and yellow nectarines, plums, and peaches.

The summer season of stone fruits in California is highly anticipated each year, so take advantage of its relatively short appearance and drop by your Castro Farmers’ Market for a bag or two of the market’s excellent stone fruits. Look for great summer recipes at the website listed in my bio!

Debra Morris is a spokesperson for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association (PCFMA). Check out the PCFMA website for recipes, information about farmers’ markets throughout the region and for much more: https://www.pcfma.org/

Published on June 10, 2021