Peaches: A Fruit that is Nutritional, Delicious and Fun to Eat

Summer fruit season is like Christmas for lovers of fresh fruits such as peaches. The peach remains one of the most popular hand fruits in American and with good reason. When you find a perfect one, there is almost nothing in the world quite as deliciously satisfying. In fact, the taste of a perfect peach is so sublime that you cannot even possibly mind the fact that juice is running down your chin and making you look like a slobbering fool. The prime opportunity for locating a perfect peach is between July and August, though peaches are officially in season from late spring to late fall. The perfect peach should have a definite weigh to it, but not be too hard. Weight without hardness is an indication it is filled with sweet juices ready to be slurped. Use your nose to sniff out a sweet aroma; if you can't smell it, it isn't even going to be near perfection. The skin of a perfect peach will be very smooth and yellowish-red with no sign of bruising.

Most peaches you'll find in the grocery store or farmer's market will be either of the freestone or cling variety, but in fact there are literally hundreds of unique varieties of the peach. The freestone is identifiable by its easily removed pit, while the pits of cling peaches tend to be stuck in the fruit's meaty flesh. The peach you hold in your hand to eat is more likely a freestone; cling peaches are typically used for cooking, canning and preserving.