A Peachy Mothers Day

Chrissy W., a Fruitguys customer service expert, flies me back to South Carolina on a magic carpet woven just for Mother’s Day from matriarchal memory threads in a southern storytelling style.

She’s pulling it from years back now talking about her mother. “Oh, mom was tough,” she laughs. “Petite and dark hair – sort of a Katherine Hepburn type. What a whirlwind.” She’s digging into the details pulling out all the stops: the South Carolina summer heat, charging through the pine woods barefoot, chasing frogs and catching tadpoles in ponds and creeks, running after feral cats, and stepping on rusty nails. “I was definitely the tomboy,” she says. “Me and my sisters – we were all brunettes like my mom, and as a kid, I wasn’t quite the lady. She used to say to me: “‘Chrissy, where are your manners?’” Chrissy’s spinning fast forward like a waterspout caught in a hurricane. “When mom was in the hospital at the end,” she says, smiling. “She was still worried about me. I was a blonde then, and after flying in from California, I went to her bedside. As I leaned in and whispered to her, she turned, took a look at my hair and said: ”˜Chrissy, you go into Columbia right now and don’t come back until you get your hair cut and colored.’ That’s when my sisters wrapped a pillowcase around my head, put a rose behind my ear, and my mom seemed fine to the end.” Chrissy’s cracking up now. “She even said, “‘Wow, that looks so nice.’ But that was Mom.”

Whatever your mother’s day memory, we hope that it’s sweet as these first (and early)* peaches of summer. Here are some basic tips that your mother may know:

1. Peaches are best when they are soft and give to the touch.
2. Peaches ripen first at the stem end (top) and along the groove (called the ‘suture’).
3. It is this humble writer’s opinion that sugar on a peach aggregates at the bottom tip, which is called the blossom end. My experience is also that darker color can indicate more robust taste in a peach.
4. Peach varieties change very quickly.

Follow them weekly in our regional mixes.

Enjoy and be fruitful!

– Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com

* Please note that stone fruit will appear in East coast and Mid-West boxes about a week or two behind the West coast boxes. Peaches ripen from West to East as the season progresses.