Peach season is now in full swing with the delicious Palisade peaches showing up at grocery stores, roadside stands, and farmers' markets. For me the crop was especially anticipated due to frost more or less wiping out our local apricot crop this year. So it has seemed like a long stretch between cherries and peaches.

I have never eaten a Georgia peach, but I will still ignorantly proclaim the Palisade peaches to be the best, simply because they are what we get ripe, sweet, and loaded with chin-dripping juice. Our hot days and cool nights are perfect for bringing out the natural sugars in the peaches and growing big, big fruit. When peaches from other areas, such as California, show up in our grocery stores they are invariably dry, mealy, and tart. This is because they must be picked green to survive traveling and will not develop any more sugar once they are picked.

We have already gone through the early season cling peaches and are now enjoying the freestone varieties. The names "cling" and "freestone" refer to the peach pits and mean what they sound like. A "cling" peach will stick to the pit and a "freestone" is not so securely attached, particularly when they are fully ripe. I prefer freestones because they are larger, juicier, sweeter, and easier to work with in the kitchen since the pit pops right out of a ripe peach.

If you are shopping for the perfect peach look first around the stem. If the skin is green near the stem the peach was picked green. I use these for recipes where a firmer peach is needed, such as grilling. If the skin around the stem is yellow or red then the peach is ripe. If it yields easily to pressure then it is very ripe and will bruise quite easily. These peaches must be handled with care and are perfect for eating. Fresh peaches should be available until the first week or two of September, so enjoy them while you can during this short season.

For those of you on the Front Range of Colorado, I will be demonstrating some peach recipes over the next few days. On Wednesday, August 4 I will be on Colorado and Company at 10:00 a.m. to make a Palisade Peach Meringue Cake. On Thursday, August 5 I am scheduled to be on KWGN "The Deuce" at 8:30 a.m. making Palisade Peach Semifreddo Croissant Sandwiches. And on Friday, August 6 I will be in Colorado Springs on Fox 21 at 8:30 a.m. preparing simple Palisade Peach appetizers and Palisade Peach daiquiris. Or, get my peach recipes here.

August 13-16 is the Palisade Peach Festival, with the main festival in the park on Friday and Saturday featuring live music, chef peach demos, a peach eating contest, and lots of peach tasting. It's a lot of fun and a chance to take a box of Colorado mountain sunshine home with you.