August 29, 2006

Tis the Season!

Biting into a peach can be such a crap shoot. Oh sure, it may appear to the quasi-educated eye to be a fine specimen. Yet the first bite reveals it to be but a fake, a fraud, a horrible pithy parody of what had been so eagerly anticipated.

But during the height of peach season, every one is a winner! Still, I select carefully. I give the fruit a quick once-over. Is the surface relatively unblemished? Check. Color? Looks good. I squeeze it carefully, gently gently. Does it give ever-so-slightly to the light pressure of my thumb? Good, good. Is the scent delicate yet fragrant and distinctively peachy? Excellent.

The reward is sweet juice flooding my mouth as my teeth rip through the delicate skin of the Perfect Peach. The texture is soft, gently yielding to my bite yet possessing a fleshy firmness that nonetheless melts in my mouth as the rich succulent flavor indulges my every sense.

The prepared partaker of the Perfect Peach always secures a napkin before indulging. Even so, one can be hard-pressed to avoid juice running down one's chin and over one's hand, making fingers ill-suited for anything except holding a peach. Somehow I never mind the mess. It's part of the Perfect Peach Experience.

Few things in life are as sweet as eating a peach in the height of peach season. That time is now, my fellow Earthlings. The season is upon us. Go forth and be fruitful. Eat a peach!

Don't forget a napkin.

.

19 comments:

WenWhit said...

Are these specimens as fine as those once procured in Texas? That was a bonding moment for you and my mother as I recall :)

Anonymous said...

I prefer peaches straight from their natural environment. A lead sealed can surrounded by heavy corn syrup...

Gak, I am just obstinate now for fun after that nasty football incident n' all. *shiver*

I actually have wonderful memories of my mother canning millions of peaches. I remember how I adored going to the road side stands with her to buy bushels (you can't get those wooden bushels now...come to think of it there are hardly any road side stands either) and I would rub the peaches against my cheeks. The smell of fresh peaches instantly takes me back to my mother's kitchen.

KMae said...

mmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm....
QUICK! Somebody- ANYBODY!!!
Get me a PEACH!!!!

the determined dieter said...

You have the same relationship with peaches that I do with strawberries. Goodbye fair strawberry season. Till we meet again.

weese said...

Its not that I don't like peach flavor... I suppose I just have a problem with fuzzy fruit.

Gunfighter said...

I'm gonna go get a peach!

Middle Girl said...

I'm with weese, the fuzzy food generally doesn't make the cut.

You sure did have my mouth watering though and if my taste buds were working now, I'm sure I would have been tasting the succulence you described-I did need a napkin.

Teresa said...

But have you ever had a nicotine peach? Those are the ones you buy at a roadside stand in South Carolina from a woman who never puts down her cigarette throughout your entire transaction. Mmmm, I can taste that smoky peach flavor now.

Eyes for Lies said...

I'm drooling...

Unknown said...

I didn't realize it was peach season! NICE. I always cut open peaches..I never just bite into them. LOL.

Trop said...

I SOOO gotta have a peach now.

tiff said...

the dry peach is an abhorrent thing. same for dry apples and plums. ick.

Anonymous said...

The only way to eat a peach is standing over the kitchen sink. When the juice starts running down your chin you know you have a great peach. Don't even get me started on homemade peach ice cream. Yowzah!

Melodee said...

Best way and place to eat a peach: in this particular peach orchard near Portland where you pick them off the tree and they are perfect, ripe, juicy.

Yum.

sporksforall said...

I once went to a party where we supposed to bring "literary" food. I brought peaches. T.S. Eliot's great line in Prufrock, "do I dare to eat a peach." I walked around all night handing people peaches and daring them to eat them.

Misspent youth and all that.

SassyFemme said...

Okay, time to go back to the grocery store, I'm getting a craving for peaches!

Kingfisher said...

Reading this made me horny.

cbar said...

In truth, I read about 1 paragraph of this post before I decided I wanted to comment. On my trip out West, we stopped in Golden Colorado and went to a farmer's market. At this market, they had all sorts of good things there, fruits, breads, veggies, pasta, jams, salsas and all sorts of things to taste and try. I stopped, repeatedly, at this one stand to sample their 5 varieties of organic applesauces. Yummy! And then there were the peaches there. Beautiful, golden, perfect peaches. I had to have one. So I purchased a jar of applesauce and one peach. The girl called it, an "imperfect" peach. I bit into right there and made, what my cousin now calls the peach face. A Face of absolute and utter enjoyment. I had, that day, the perfect peach and it is one that I have, ever since, been trying to duplicate. Thanks for reminding me. I need to get some peaches in California. : )

Little Blue Petal said...

Can't quite cope with the fuzziness of peaches... but peach cobbler with icecream is another thing entirely! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! LBPx