Stone Fruit Season Is Here — and the Peaches Are Worth the Drive

The Best Few Weeks of the Year for Stone Fruit

If you've been waiting all year for this moment, good news — it's here. Fresh peaches are in right now at Open Air Market Produce Stand, and they are everything you remembered hoping for when winter felt like it would never end. That deep blush color, the give under your thumb when the fruit is perfectly ripe, the way the juice runs the second you bite in — this is peak summer in a single piece of fruit.

Stone fruit season is one of the shortest and most glorious windows in the summer produce calendar. Unlike strawberries or watermelon, which seem to stretch on for weeks, peaches hit their prime and move fast. The good news is that right now, in late July, we're right in the thick of it. Whether you're planning a pie, a cobbler, a batch of freezer jam, or just want to eat one standing over the kitchen sink, there's no better time to stock up.

How to Pick a Peach Worth Taking Home

When you're standing at the stand browsing the peaches, resist the urge to squeeze too hard — that's how bruises happen, and a bruised peach goes downhill quickly. Instead, cradle the fruit gently in your palm and press just slightly near the stem end. A ripe peach will give a little. A rock-hard peach needs a day or two on your counter. A peach that gives too easily is already past its peak.

Color is another great guide, but it can be misleading. Don't be fooled into thinking the reddest peach is the ripest — the background color is what matters. Look for a warm golden-yellow base color beneath the blush. That golden undertone tells you the fruit developed its sugars fully. Green tinges near the stem usually mean it was picked early and may never fully sweeten up. And always trust your nose: a ripe peach smells like a ripe peach. If it doesn't have a fragrance, give it more time.

If you're buying a larger quantity for preserving or baking, it's perfectly fine to grab some that are a day or two away from peak ripeness. Lay them out in a single layer on your counter — never in the refrigerator at this stage — and they'll be ready when you need them.

Beyond Peaches: The Rest of the Stone Fruit Worth Knowing

Peaches may get all the glory, but they're not alone this time of year. Stop by the stand and you may find nectarines alongside them — smooth-skinned, slightly more tart, and absolutely wonderful sliced thin over vanilla ice cream or layered into a galette. The difference between a peach and a nectarine is really just skin-deep (literally — it comes down to a single gene), but nectarines hold up a little better in cooked applications and don't require peeling.

Plums are another stone fruit that deserves far more attention than it typically gets at the summer table. Their flavor runs the full spectrum from honey-sweet to pleasantly tart depending on variety, and they do remarkable things when roasted. Toss halved plums with a drizzle of honey and a pinch of cinnamon, roast them at 400°F for about 20 minutes, and serve them over Greek yogurt or alongside pork. It's one of those combinations that feels far fancier than the effort involved.

When you're looking for fresh fruits and vegetables near me and you want the full stone fruit experience in one stop, the produce stand at 1594 Barbourville Rd in London is the place to be. We're open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. — seven days a week, with plenty of parking.

A Simple Peach Cobbler That Doesn't Require a Recipe Card

If there's one recipe every Kentuckian should have in their back pocket during peach season, it's a skillet cobbler. Here's the version worth memorizing: preheat your oven to 375°F. Melt half a stick of butter in a cast iron skillet. In a bowl, mix together one cup each of flour, sugar, and whole milk with a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt — pour that batter into the melted butter without stirring. Pile four or five sliced, ripe peaches right on top, sprinkle with a little brown sugar and cinnamon, and bake for 45 minutes until the batter has risen up around the peaches and turned golden brown.

That's it. No fussing with pie crust, no double boiler, no candy thermometer. The batter does its thing, the peaches sink in just slightly, and what comes out is one of the most honest summer desserts you can put on a table. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you've just made something people will talk about.

The key — and this cannot be overstated — is starting with fruit that's actually ripe and flavorful. A cobbler made with a mealy, flavorless peach will be a mealy, flavorless cobbler. The fruit is the whole point. Grab ripe ones from the stand, use them the same day or the next, and the dessert will take care of itself.

Freezing Peaches: The Smartest Thing You'll Do This Summer

Here's a truth about peach season: it ends. One day in August you'll reach for a peach and realize they're gone, and the next fresh one is about eleven months away. The smartest move you can make right now is to buy a few extra pounds and freeze them while they're at their best.

Freezing peaches is easy but there's one important step — blanching. Bring a pot of water to a boil, score an X in the bottom of each peach, and drop them in for about 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer immediately to an ice bath. The skins will slip right off. Slice the peaches, toss them with a small amount of lemon juice and sugar to prevent browning, and lay them flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen solid — usually a few hours — transfer them to zip-top bags. They'll keep beautifully for up to a year.

Come February, when London, Kentucky is gray and cold and winter has overstayed its welcome, you'll pull one of those bags out of the freezer and make a cobbler or a smoothie or a sauce for oatmeal, and it'll taste like the best day of July. That's the whole magic of preserving at the peak. Don't skip it.

Savory Ideas for the Peach-Curious Cook

Not everyone is a dessert person, and that's perfectly fine — because peaches have a savory side that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves. The natural sweetness of a ripe peach balances beautifully against acid and salt, which makes it a natural partner for things like prosciutto, sharp cheddar, arugula, and balsamic vinegar. A simple summer salad of sliced peaches, torn prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and a handful of peppery greens dressed with good olive oil and a splash of white balsamic is the kind of thing that makes people think you spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen when it took you ten minutes.

Peach salsa is another one that converts skeptics quickly. Dice ripe peaches and toss them with red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, and a pinch of salt. Let it sit for about 20 minutes before serving. It's extraordinary on grilled chicken or fish tacos, and it disappears fast at any summer cookout. Make extra.

For anyone who's been thinking of the produce stand in London KY purely as a destination for pie ingredients, it might be time to rethink the possibilities. Stone fruit is one of the most versatile categories in the summer produce calendar, and right now, it's all here and ready.

Come See What's Ready This Week

Open Air Market Produce Stand has been a part of Laurel County summers since 1984 — that's over four decades of families stopping in for fresh produce, and a whole lot of peach cobblers made from fruit carried out in brown paper bags. There's something genuinely irreplaceable about shopping at a place that's been doing this longer than most of its customers can remember.

This week, the stone fruit is front and center. Come pick through the peaches yourself, ask what else just came in, and take home more than you planned — you always do, and you're always glad you did. We're at 1594 Barbourville Rd in London, open every day of the week with room to park and no rush to leave. Summer moves fast. The peaches are ready right now.