A Must Try Summer Salad! So simple, fresh & delicious! Summer peaches are sweet and juicy and their flavor intensifies on the grill.
I love shopping at various Farmers’ Markets in the Summer. You will find just-pick fruit and veggies and buy directly from the farmer. The selection is much different than your local supermarket – I see many new heirloom varieties each season.
This salad is simple – not too many ingredients to complicate the taste, yet they all work together: something sweet, something sour, something crunchy, something herbal.
There are endless possibilities for add-ins, depends what you’re into, or what you have on hand.
~ Add grilled proteins for a main course salad – slice and marinade in the vinaigrette…delicious!
~ Add crumbled or sliced cheese: Mozzarella, Goat, Feta, Manchego or your favorite.
~ Add other vegetables and salads: Sliced Avocado, Grilled Corn Off the Cob,
Roasted or Grilled Peppers, thin sliced Vadalia Onions, Fresh Arugula and Sunflower Sprouts.
I do love using yellow and white peaches in the recipe. One lends an orange-yellow hue, and the other white and purple tones.
Some interesting facts:
More than 300 varieties of peaches (Prunus persica) grow and flourish in the United States.
Clingstone Peaches – the flesh “clings” to the “stone” of the peach, making it difficult to separate, and thus more suitable for processing.
The pit of Freestone Peaches “freely” separates from the flesh, making it ideal for fresh consumption. These are the most common.
Semi-freestone: This newer type is a hybrid of the clingstone and freestone. It is good for general purposes, both fresh and canned.
Yellow-fleshed peaches are the most common, having a balanced flavor of sweet and tangy.
White-fleshed peaches have less acidity, and therefore lack the tangy flavor that yellow peaches exhibit.
Almost any variety, when allowed to ripen on the tree, will taste better than anything from the grocery store!
Although Georgia is known as the Peach State, South Carolina isn’t far behind, ranking No. 2 in the nation.
Peaches are at their peak from June to the end of August.
The term, “you’re a real peach” originated from the tradition of giving a peach to someone you liked.
Enjoy!
Karen