I HEART STONE FRUITS

For me, summer means gorging on stone fruits(defined as anything with a pit- peaches, cherries, pluots, etc.), which is a little difficult in Boston considering that most stone fruits aren't grown in MA. Actually, there's a whole article in the Food section of today's Globe dedicated to stone fruits. Not a good article, but an article. Anyway, I digress.

In my years of living in Boston(actually, let's say the entire east coast), I've been sorely disappointed by summer stone fruits. They just taste like crap. They lack all the sweetness and flavor that stone fruits ought to have. And it makes sense. The vast majority of stone fruit is grown in CA, which means it's gotta be shipped over to us. The fruits are picked before they're ripe so they aren't damaged during shipping. Unfortunately, especially when it comes to peaches, this also means that the peaches won't ripen and sweeten further. Sure, they'll get softer, but they'll never develop the lovely sweetness. Believe me, I experienced this 2 years ago when I found white peaches at Savenor's on Charles St. I bought 2, one for myself and one for my sister, and was shocked to find that they were $3 a piece. But i paid for them, just for a taste of summer. They were the worst white peaches I'd ever had. So tasteless and almost mealy! Never again!

So when my sister told me she was coming to Boston for a wedding last weekend, and asked me what i wanted (other than a new DVD player) i quickly responded that i wanted stone fruits. And lots of them. My entire family was very generous in pulling together and packing me a bunch of fruit. And they did good. I got white peaches, white nectarines,donut peaches, white cherries andregular bing cherries.And of course, straight from CA, they were sooooooo yummy. I started with the white peaches and donut peaches (they'd packed those into a little pizza box). Juicy and as Leah expressed it, fragrant. AHHHHHHH. It makes me so happy to have them. I still have them in my fridge at home, and am eating one a day (yes, I'm sharing) just trying to make them last longer. I also shared my favorite white cherries with Tom and Kjell, who'd never had white cherries before.

On Sunday, we're going peach picking in N. Mass. I went peach picking once in DC, and they were ok. I think it'll be a fun summer experience, and we're planning on cooking with the peaches anyway- peach pie and peach tarte tatin. So here's hoping that we get some lovely fruit this weekend.