Peaches

         I am a self-declared produce aficionado. However, most people in my life will agree with that title. No matter where we are or what the intended plan for the day was, I will find a way to drag that person to a produce market. Whether it be a new location or a place that I have visited dozens of times, I will enjoy myself thoroughly during my entire stay.

If I were given a one-item limit on each visit to the market, each time, I would come home with a bag of peaches. During the summer, there is truly nothing better. Fresh and sweet, the orange exterior color continues all the way through. Filled with abundant juice that comes running out like a rushing river after the first bite. Growing rapidly during the summer months, they are easy to come across and bring home to enjoy at any time. Whether I eat them as is or incorporate them into one of many recipes in my repertoire, they are one of the most iconic summer delicacies in my mind.

However, it is important for me to be honest in this discussion. While I find myself buying at least a dozen peaches a week from various different markets and stores in my town, I have never had a genuinely fantastic peach here. While nonetheless, they are still good, each peach has at least one quality that would diminish its score if it were to be ranked. Often, I find that the skin on the outside is too thick, causing it to separate from the inside the second you bite or cut into it. Or, no matter how long it is left out to ripen, it never reaches that final stage of juicy summer ripeness. Instead, it becomes grainy on the inside, its perfect tender quality damaged as it made its trip here from its place of growth.

Naturally, if I were in search of the best peaches, one would expect me to visit Georgia. However, much to the dismay of my family in Georgia, who swear by the state's peaches, there is another state in the country known for the sweet summer delicacy: Delaware. On my family's week-long trip to the state, I found the peach I had been craving for the entire summer.

The day my family and I arrived for our trip, we headed straight for the local farm market, opting to temporarily skip the local, overcrowded chain grocery store. Located only a short walk away from our house, we were eager to get our hands on the most local produce the area had to offer. As we rounded the corner onto the main street where the stand was located, the large white tend and mulch-lined floor stood awaiting us.

​​When we reached the roughly ten-foot mark from entering the tent, the sweet smell of summer fruit came wafting over us. While someone unfamiliar may opt to classify the smell as random fruit, I knew it was peaches. As we continued to get closer, the tables lined edge-to-edge with baskets of beautiful, bright peaches came into view. 

After selecting the perfect pounds, we began our walk home, now with several bags in tow. However, we barely made it around the corner before we had to stop. The anticipation of the fresh fruit in our bags was too much for us to manage. Stepping off the sidewalk and relocating underneath a tree where we would not block the path, we reached our hands blindly into the bag. Each hand returned, cradling a fresh, bright peach. 

Without hesitating, I took the first bite of my peach. Exposing the bright orange inner flesh, I knew that this peach was unlike any other peach I had ever consumed. Immediately, it melted my mouth, leaving only the perfect sweet yet still slightly tart flavor. From the first bite, the juice spewed from the fruit in my hand like a fountain. Bent over to prevent it from dripping off my face onto my clothes, the juice was now running down my arm into the dry grass below. Over the course of the next few minutes, the entirety of the fruit was consumed, leaving only the tiny, red pit behind.

Sharing looks with my family, we knew that our lives had been changed. Soon, we returned to our walk home, our hands and arms now caked in drying peach juice. For the next week, we ate as many peaches as we possibly could, knowing they would only last as long as our trip. Eventually, our vacation ended, and we returned home. I am yet to eat another peach like that again.