July is Peach Season in Ohio

Nothing tastes like summer like fresh peaches! Beginning mid to late July, they are in season here in Ohio. Amish and Mennonite families in our area will buy them by the bushel and can or freeze them for their families.

Whether you can them or eat them fresh, you'll want to start out with quality fruit. Here are a few tips for buying peaches.

Selecting your fruit
When shopping for peaches, be very picky. You'll want to make sure the fruit is soft but not bruised. While bruised peaches spoil quickly, peaches that are hard will never ripen correctly and are not as tasty. To save yourself both grief and work, be sure to select free-stone varieties - "cling" peaches do not lift off the stone easily and will be harder to slice.

If you plan to can or freeze your peaches, try to ask for varieties that do not turn brown when sliced. Although the peaches may taste OK, they won't retain the beautiful yellow color they had when fresh. If you're not sure what kind of peaches you have, just coat your sliced peaches with an acid, such as lemon juice or orange juice. The acid helps the peaches look fresh and yellow until you eat them next winter.

It's fine to store peaches in your refrigerator, but be sure to store them side-by-side. Stacking peaches will cause them to bruise and get mushy. Before eating fresh peaches, remove them from the refrigerator to warm up. Peaches at room temperature seem to have better taste than those straight out of the frig.

Where to buy peaches
Because of the brutal winter of 2009, nearly all the peaches froze in central Ohio. In some spots in Holmes County, temperatures dropped to 26 degrees below zero and froze the buds of the trees.

Although there will be no native crop of peaches here, produce is currently being shipped in from the south. Red Haven is the variety of choice but there are many good options for eating and "putting away." In Walnut Creek, Hillcrest Orchard is one place to buy and they will be have peaches for sale the last week in July.

Another option is at our local livestock auctions, such as Farmerstown (Tuesday), Mount Hope (Wednesday) or Kidron (Thursday). You'll find multiple vendors there with peach varieties such as Harvestor, Contender, Red Haven and the later varieties of "white" peaches. If you are in the market for large lots of fruit, check out the Farmer's Produce Auction in Mount Hope on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

In Plain City, just west of Columbus, you'll be able to find peaches at Yutzy's Farm Market. They'll be selling the varieties Contender, Red Glow and later Red Haven. All three are good for freezing and canning and are free-stone varieties.

Fresh Peach Pie
One of the most popular pies at our restaurants is Fresh Peach Pie. Der Dutchman in Walnut Creek and Dutch Valley in Sugarcreek are both currently serving this pie while our Der Dutchman in Plain City will begin serving in early August.

Fresh peach pie, as the name states, is made with fresh uncooked peaches. Our pie bakers peel and slice the peaches, then add a homemade peachy-orange glaze. The longer the peaches "marinate" in the glaze, the more tasty they become.

As with fresh strawberry pie, they simply fill a pre-baked pie shell with the peach mixture and serve. If you are daring, you might want to top the pie with whipped cream or even vanilla ice cream. It's a special cool treat in the hot summer weather. But stop in soon, the peach season is short - don't miss it!