Do you have a device that has gone haywire on autocorrect, or is there really such a thing as Pennsylvania peaches? (GA, Georgia peaches?)

Chambersburg peaches (from PA) are heavenly and I look forward to this 6 week season each summer. They are sweet and juicy--like drip down your arm juicy and can be about the size of a softball. Apparently, PA is the 4th largest producer of peaches. My favorite is cottage cheese and peaches.

Tomatoes have been coming in for quite a while. For me, this time of year is Jimmy Nardello peppers from my garden sauteed with onions and locally made Italian sausage from locally raised pork. Oh boy!

Ohio has delicious peaches too! Huron, Milan, Berlin Heights, anywhere near Lake Erie produces the best tasting peaches in the country. GA peaches are good in Georgia, but not here. They are picked too soon and never ripen to juicy sweetness.

" produces the best tasting peaches in the country. "

I hope you're saying this casually and not seriously. Unless you're in the peach business and have sampled produce from all regions.

I'm right there with you, Anglophilia.

I've been buying peaches at the farmers market since late May/early June and they have been exceptional this year. The elbertas started showing up last week and I think they are my favorite. Last Saturday, I was at the farmers market waiting in line to buy peaches (at the only stand that had them) and the woman in front of me bought all they had for pies. I had to go peachless for a few days and it was not easy! :-(

We are still getting cherries, although I think we may see the last of them in the near future.

The watermelon has been really good too. Every one I've purchased has been bright red, crisp and juicy. So often, they are mealy and mushy.

We're having a relatively mild summer this year; I wonder if that has anything to do with the superior quality of the fruit this year?

Anglophilia I'm drooling over all you mentioned. Love love figs!

I had fresh peach cobbler yesterday, Delightful!

Thanks for sharing!

Peaches are produced as a commercial crop in 20 states, with California, South Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey being the 4 largest producers.

As to the best tasting fresh produce, whether it be peaches or tomatoes or watermelon or whatever, I think that the most locally grown available produce will taste the best as these are often smaller operations and the produce is harvested as close to perfect ripeness as possible, rather than being harvested when still rock solid and shipped to wherever. I always look forward to farmstand or farmers' market produce at this time of year, as they always seem to taste so much better than out of season produce or stuff that has been shipped across country.

Yes! We're making a trip to Huron tomorrow.

Elmer, I've had peaches from many states. None measure up to Ohio peaches.

Your menu sounds wonderful Anglo. I agree with gardengal...many of us have "the best" produce grown close to home that is never even seen by others out of our areas, because they are not shipped but simply taken a few miles to a farmer's market or fruit stand. WA grows wonderful peaches on the east side of our mountain ranges but they are not grown commercially (that I know of) on the coast side of the mountains. However, I have a friend who has successfully grown peaches here in Olympia (I don't know how - climate change maybe?) where it's much cooler, and right now I have a box of the best peaches I've ever eaten from him.

Anglo, your culinary descriptions sound wonderful. Fresh fruits and produce this time of year are always the best and I’m always happy to hear how people enjoy them.

Peaches are one item that can vary depending on variety grown, even by state. We have had great peaches from our local Farmers Market, some we liked better than others. The local grower always told me the variety that was ripe that week and what they were selling. My favorite so far this year was Ruston Red. All were good, but this one was exceptional. And of course if you depend on having any fruit shipped in, quality can suffer. No sense getting into any argument over what state grows peaches better than another. They are all good.

We've been enjoying peaches here in New Jersey for a month now. I pick them up at little farm stands all around my county. And I'm sure there are many other areas in the country with delicious local produce too.

matthias, at our first house there was a peach tree in the back yard. The peaches were delicious, but we could not keep up with them, so every summer I made several jars of peach jam which were much appreciated in the winter months.

The dogs thought the peach tree was a tennis ball tree and would spend hours trying to jump high enough into the tree to grab one. When they did get one, they were always disappointed to realize that tennis balls don't grow on trees.

:Elmer, I've had peaches from many states over the years! I don't remember what CA peaches were like when we lived there, as we were never there from mid-June til early Sept. I can say that I wouldn't give you a nickel for the CA peaches that arrive in chain grocery stores here in flyover country. I'm also not a big fan or GA or AL peaches.

But those PA peaches! Yes, so juicy they run down ones arms if eaten out of hand! Skins so thin that they can be rubbed off or eaten. They RIPEN, not rot! I've never had better peaches in my life. Locally grown are often "iffy" in my part of the country as we often have late freezes and that's it for the crop that year. In Sept, the Idaho peaches will be in at my small local produce market. They're mighty fine as well! I know - ID or PA for peaches? Who knew? Well now I know!

Love peaches. The last time I ate a California peach was when I was a child, in the 70s. We lived in San Pedro and I ate all the way down to the pit and it had maggots in it. I've never been able to eat fruit without cutting it since then. The last peaches I got was from a truck at a nursery. I think they were from Georgia and not ripe. By the time they got ripe at home they were mushy. I need to go to the farmer's market here in Lexington. Two years ago they had the best peaches. Last year, not so great.

I finally had a ripe Brandywine tomato on the vine this morning! I picked it before going to work and will eat it tonight. I can't wait!

Sounds like you like your eggs French style...I call it heaven, my husband calls it mush. Our eggs are cooked seperately! We are doing fish with tomatoes and zucchini and yellow squash pretty much every day. Have some of the kids coming over tonight... salmon on wood on the grill and zoodles with tomato salad

My comment to Michael wasn't to offer a counterpoint about peaches from State A or State X. I always find superlative statements of this type "this is the best anywhere" or even the silliest of all, "The US is the (fill in the blank - free-ist, best, most democratic, strongest, most important, etc) country in the world" to be uninformative. And usually uninformed.

Not to stray the discussion, but one of my simple summer pleasures used to be a good tomato/mayo sandwich on toasted sourdough with my friend's delicious tomatoes from her garden. Both of us have had unusual events this summer--she didn't put a garden in, and I haven't paid attention to the calendar. But I want a good tomato sandwich before summer ends. I'll have to rely on a farmer's market--can anyone recommend a few good varieties to look for?

Here the tomatoes at farmers markets are generally purchased from Amish hothouse growers and one way you can tell this beyond seeing the boxes they are unpacked from is the uniformity of size and shape. The cost of a "booth" at a farmers market prevents most of the people who are growing multiple types of veggies and fruits from selling there. Cost here is from $200 to $800. Better to look for a small stand in front of someone's house where you place your money in a slot. I do have a startup greenhouse in this area that the owners do know what they are selling but most will just give you a commonly recognizable name.

I’ve been binging on tomatoes and peaches. I had one tomato plant and the tomatoes are so good. I have BLTs, grilled cheese and tomatoes or just a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich for almost every meal. I bought about half a dozen PA peaches yesterday. They go on cereal, or just sliced. Peaches are my very favorite fruit. I have to say the best peach I ever had was in Albania! It was huge, juicy and perfectly delicious.

The local blueberries have been a little disappointing. I was just in the PNW and had some big fat blueberries there that were out of this world. I may have to drive across the bridge to NJ to see if there are some good ones over there. Maire Cate have you found good ones nearby?

And corn! Another seasonal food that I have to eat as much as I can!

Feathers, I can only recommend some that I have either grown myself or tasted and known what variety I was eating. My favorite is Cherokee Purple, an heirloom. It doesn’t have a long shelf life however so only buy a few at a time. Another tasty heirloom is Mortgage Lifter. Don’t discount hybrids though, and Better Boy or Big Boy are pretty tasty with that nice acidity good for a tomato sandwich.

Many love Beefsteak but it isn’t one of my favorites. I also grow some yellow heirlooms, with Lemon Boy being a favorite. They are more sweet and less acidic and make a pretty plate mixed with sliced red tomatoes, garnished with basil.

Dedtired - The blueberries at Wegmans have been pretty good lately. We still have a quite a few farms in the area - Hess's, Lou's, Haines Berry Farm, Darmo, Johnson.

Do you have any near you?

There are quite a few little stands in my area but on Saturday mornings we usually go to the farmers market at the Burlington County Agricultural Center on Centerton Rd in Moorestown for corn, peaches, blueberries, flowers, honey, cheese, bread etc. There are 2 small farms who bring their grass fed meats too. I'm lucky to have a friend who works at a 'pick-your-own' farm and I often buy produce and eggs from her.

http://www.burlcoagcenter.com/farmers-market/

Heirloom tomatoes are available now - Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, Black Krim, German Johnson. Now that we don't have enough space or sunlight to grow our own plants DH has become very picky about tomatoes and his favorites are Beefsteak and Oxheart. Rutgers released a Ramapo variety about 10 years ago they they're pretty good too. We do have patio tomatoes and at least they produce early.

What's really disappointing is that Wegman's has a small section of what they labeled 'heirloom' but they're just as tasteless as the other commercial tomatoes.

The home grown peaches have been so wonderful that I'm even tempted to start canning so that I can have them off-season. DH makes a tasty peach dessert that we all love. Blanch the peaches, place in ice water, remove the skin. Slice, add a really good balsamic vinegar and a little sugar, blueberries and refrigerate. Serve on pound cake, angel food cake, ice cream. Simple.

Sounds delicious! Stone fruit are tremendous this year. I have no idea what conditions they thrive in, but we must've had that! I have to admit I've never once heard of a PA peach? GA peaches all day long, but not PA? Guess we all love what we know :)

I agree - who knew that PA grew peaches! I tried the a few years ago on the recommendation of the store manager and I've never looked back. I sometimes am tempted by the GA and AL peaches when they're in earlier, but when they don't truly ripen and turn to mush I remember why they're not worth carrying home. I have no idea how this small local chain of 4 produce stores came upon PA peaches, but everyone loves them. They even have the white ones which are my favorites. They're not quite as large as the regular ones, but oh, the flavor and the juice.

When my DD was living in NYC, she called me one day and said one could buy virtually anything in NYC except a decent peach and she was longing for some. I had kept the foam fitted box some pears had come in at Christmas from Harry & David, and I went to my local produce store and packed it with peaches and shipped it off to her. She was in heaven! There's just nothing quite like a really good peach, probably because their season is so short and the wait is long until the next year.

Am eating my first ripe Brandywine tomato from my garden right now. It's so good! More are ripening but one that was nearly ripe and the biggest had worms in it. Everything is so dry here and been busy working and running around the past 5 or 6 days that I haven't been out to water things. It was in the high 90s all weekend and today. I finally got everything watered today but had to cut off a bunch of dead leaves from everything and think my petunia out front is a goner. All the other flowers out there look great considering no water for so many days.

Oh and tomorrow after my mammogram I'm going to Lexington to the farmer's market and pick up some peaches!