 Of temperate-zone stone fruit in the northern hemisphere, sweet cherries have, by far, the highest sugar content; but they're not only sweet--they're also lush, juicy, and when tree ripened, delicious enough to zigzag roads for. Like their plum relatives, cherries are a stone, or drupe, fruit. They are available in early summer. Sweet cherries are much more difficult to produce than sour cherries because, not uncommonly, a late spring frost will devastate the crop.
Health Benefits: Cherries are an excellent source of iron and contain some phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, as well as vitamin A.
Use: A superior dessert fruit, most cherries are enjoyed raw, but they're also an excellent addition to salads and compotes. Enjoy them fresh, dried, juiced, or in preserves. They work in a pie, although sour cherries are preferred.
 The Rainier Cherry tree produces sweet, large, yellow fruit with a red blush. The fruit is firm and the flesh is fine-textured and clear to light yellow.
 Bing Cherries feature an appetizing red-mahogany color, a relatively small stone, and fruit that is crisp and juicy. But the biggest benefit is its distinctive taste; it explodes with rich sweet flavor.
 For those who have dallied amid apricot trees bearing ripe fruit, it makes perfect sense that nectar was the drink of the gods. Apricots malic and citric acid content give a lemony bite to this otherwise sweet, buttery fruit, a plum relative that originated in Asia.
Health benefits: An organic apricot's vibrant gold color marks it as a superior source of vitamin A and carotene. Its alpha, beta, gamma, and delta carotenoids serve as an antioxidant and protect DNA from free-radical damage. Dried organic apricots are a good source of iron, cobalt, and copper, and are an effective remedy for anemia. Extracts of laetrile, used in cancer therapy, are derived from the amygdaline of apricots and their kernels.
Use: Dried apricots: rehydrate and use in fruit compote, as a sauce or for filling. Eaten out of hand, fresh organic apricots are unsurpassed. They also lend themselves to fruit salad, home canning, and preserves.
 An aprium is a fruit invented in the late 20th century by Floyd Zaiger. It is a complex cross hybrid of plum and apricot, being ¾ apricot and ¼ plum in parentage. The aprium, like the pluot, is derived from the ½ plum ½ apricot hybrid called the plumcot. Its exterior resembles an apricot to some extent, but is mostly smooth like a plum.
 The peach is an unusually fine fruit – juicy, fleshy, sweet, and yet tart. The peach tree, which originated in China, was the Tree of Life to the ancient Chinese, and the emperor’s royal scepter was made of peach wood. In China, the peach still symbolizes virginity and fertility. Its cultivation moved along caravan routes to Persia and eventually to Europe and the Americas. The peach is a member of the plum family.
Health Benefits: Both peaches and nectarines are sub acid in fruits and low on calories. They contain fewer calories than apples or pears, and they aid in elimination. They are high in vitamin A (especially the darker colored peaches), and vitamin C, and, unlike most fruits, contain calcium.
Use: In the United States, the peach is among the most popular fruits for eating out of hand; it’s also popular canned, dried, or made into preserves, sauces, butter, chutney confections, and liqueurs. For easiest peeling, blanch peaches in boiling water for a few seconds, and then plunge into cold water until cool enough to handle; the skin will slip right off. To keep sliced peaches from discoloring, mix them with a little lemon juice or ascorbic acid.
Buying: Peaches are seasonal. Hard, out of season peaches and those with greenish skins do not ripen or become sweet. A red blush indicates variety and not ripeness. A peachy aroma indicates ripeness, as does softness; choose a peach that gives slightly to palm pressure.
 A variety of white Peach that originated in Asia. The name was derived from the appearance, which looks like a cake donut. The outer skin has a pale yellow and red color that covers a white inner flesh that is tender, juicy, and sweet tasting, similar to a nectarine. This Peach has a low acid to sugar ratio, so it is sweeter than the orange flesh variety.
 The drink of the gods-at least the Greek gods- was nectar, and indeed the nectarine tastes divine. It is a kind of smooth skinned peach only it is more of everything- sweeter, richer, more distinctively flavored, stronger smelling, and more brightly colored. The flesh of a nectarine is also firmer than that of a peach, and it is often smaller in size. The leaves, trees, and seeds of peaches and nectarines are indistinguishable; the fruit may be either freestone or clingstone- that is, loose from the stone or attached to it.
Use: Nectarines are enjoyed raw, cooked, or dried. They can be used interchangeably with peaches and apricots in fruit salads and other desserts. Because of the fuzz-less skin, a nectarine doesn’t need peeling. The flesh of a nectarine will discolor after being cut, so slice just prior to serving or toss with lemon juice.
Buying: Look for a plump nectarine with a rich (rather than a bright) color, and a slight softening along the seam of the fruit. Russeting or staining of the skin does not affect the fruits quality.
 Plum/apricot hybrid. They are smooth skinned, but that skin lacks the bitter or tart tang found in plum skins. Ripe pluots have a stronger flavor than apricots or plums, due to their higher sugar content.
 The juicy, sweet-tart plum is a cousin to the peach and the cherry and grows on every continent except Antarctica. The plum has been used by man since prehistoric times. California supplies 90 percent of the US commercial crop.
Health Benefits: Due to their high content of oxalic acid, eat plums in moderation; otherwise, they may deplete calcium from the body. Plums provide sugar but no starch, some potassium, vitamins A and C, and a fair amount of silicon.
Use: Plums; sweet tart bite make them especially delicious in pies and tarts; sweet they are also eaten fresh, stewed, and made into preserves, wines, and liqueurs. Sloe, a wild plum, is used to make sloe gin. A prune is a dried plum. Cooking plums in an acid base like lemon juice intensifies their color, cooking them in an alkaline base like baking powder reduces their color.
Buying: Purchase plums that are slightly soft to the touch, especially at the tip, and have a powdery bloom on the skin. They should be plump but not shriveled, split, overly soft, leaky, or bruised. If not fully ripened, leave plums out at room temperature for a few days (they wont become sweeter but will soften), then refrigerate for three to five days.
 They are a type of European-style plum. Prune plums are free-stone---the stone comes away from the flesh easily. Also, they are small and oval-shaped, unlike your typical eating plums which are round. Italian plums are typically red- or purple-skinned with dense, golden, slightly tart flesh that is drier than other plums. They can be enjoyed eaten out of hand, or used in cooking. The flavor intensifies when they're cooked. They're great in tarts and cakes. Because they have a lower moisture content, they hold their shape well when cooked.
from Rebecca Wood's The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia |
