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There are three items I equate with summer: fresh garden tomatoes, hand-picked sweet corn, and juicy, sweet peaches. Peaches are one of the items I never buy from the grocery store, as they tend to be a more fragile fruit and excess handling results in bruises.

You can soften peaches once picked. Place the peaches in a brown paper bag, checking daily. Once the peaches have softened, transfer to the refrigerator to slow the softening process. Peaches come in two primary varieties named for how the pit acts. In Freestone peaches, the pit is easily freed, leaving neat halves while the clingstone pit must be removed with a bit of force. Peaches also come in white and yellow.

If peaches make it past the raw stage, it’s usually to serve as a breakfast topping, chutney, BBQ sauce, or grilled cheese partner. I’ve even grilled peaches, which helps to caramelize the peaches natural sugars.

Peaches can be frozen and canned. I love to can peach salsa, but you can make jars of sweet peaches. It’s as as easy as most vegetables, just blanch, peel, slice, and freeze.

 All Vegetarian Peaches Recipes