Stone Fruits: Peaches, Plums, Cherries, Apricots & More

Stone fruits (along with berries) are the quintessential summer fruit.

And they come in every single color of the rainbow! And every single year there’s new varieties at the farmers markets.

Stone-what?

Ya know, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, cherries, plots, lychees, mangoes, coconuts, dates, olives and more. They’re also called drupes and they’re fruits with a large “stone: (pit) inside surrounded by a fleshy outer area.

Stone fruits range in size, color, texture and flavor.

Size: From small fleshy lychees to adorable little cherry plums to giant heavenly white nectarines and enormous Keitt mangoes.
Color: From deep purple plums to orange apricots to yellow, white, red and pink peaches and more!
Flavor: From very sour and bitter green plums to tart damson plums to super sweet yellow peaches and red Bing cherries.
This blog celebrates all the sweet and juicy varieties of stone fruits and they are easily interchangeable in the recipes on this blog (with the exception of olives). I’m a the-more-stone-fruit-varieties-the-merrier kinda gal and so are the recipes on this blog!

Picking stone fruit: don't be afraid of a few bruises, as this indicates a ripeness, and this tasty fruit that may actually be better than a hard, spotless one. Their smell is also a great indicator of ripeness—the more aromatic the better.

Any variety of stone fruit works with the recipes below and they’re all a more variety the merrier kinda recipes.

Season: summer is peak stone fruit season
Prep: raw, roasted, grilled, baked, poached, braised