Palisade peaches debuting at area fruit stand

Nothing tastes more purely of summer than the perfect peach.

The signs are popping up around Durango, heralding the arrival of the Palisades – the large, sweet variety that grows so well in Colorado’s Grand Valley, 175 miles north.

Last Friday at the Peach Valley Produce stand in the Durango High School parking lot, people crowded around boxes of fresh peaches, plums, cherries and other produce, stocking up for the weekend. Some talked of grilling or baking their peaches, but the vote for best way to enjoy them was unanimous: fresh.

“They’re so sweet, there’s no point in ruining them with anything,” said Durango resident Jean Kirol. She and her husband, Mike, have frequented the produce stand for years, they said.

Same for Barbara and Paul Lacourciere, who live in Phoenix but work as caretakers north of Durango in the summer. They stopped at the produce stand to purchase a half box of peaches to bring to friends. “What am I going to do with them? I’m going to eat them,” Barb said.

Fort Lewis College English professor Candace Nadon’s favorite peach recipe was handed down from her grandmother Lorena, who will turn 90 in October and is known for her talents in the kitchen.

“She made peach icebox dessert only when the peaches were good, and it was one of my favorite treats,” Nadon said. “She is an extraordinary woman with true can-do Colorado spirit – raised eight children on a shoestring budget and accomplished it in part by keeping an enormous garden and canning everything you can think of. She is an incredible cook.”

An incredible cook who understands that sometimes, the sweet bounty of summer just begs to be dressed up in whipped cream and marshmallows. (See recipe for “Grandma Lorena’s Peach Icebox Dessert” below.)

For peaches grown closer to home, we still have several weeks to wait. South of Durango on six acres along the Animas River in Cedar Hill, Susan Palko-Schraa looks forward to when the hard, green peaches on her trees will be ready for plucking.

“Three years ago was our last really good crop,” Palko-Schraa said. “There was an orange carpet below the trees. Last year, we only got about a dozen. It gets warm in March, the trees blossom – and then it freezes, damaging the blossoms.”

This year, they expect a solid yield. Once the peaches are perfect, Palko-Schraa and her husband, Bill, dehydrate, bake and freeze them. And they also believe in sharing the bounty. “We have picking parties, and friends and neighbors come to fill buckets,” she said. “We’ve lived on the land for three years, and our goals are sustainability, community and reciprocity with nature.”

One of summer’s finest natural treats is only available for a short while, and there are myriad ways to be creative in the kitchen with peaches: a simple but stunning salad that showcases fresh tomatoes and herbs alongside the fruit; a fresh salsa to eat with chips or serve atop a grilled piece of fish or pork; or a homestyle dessert, like a cobbler cooked in the campfire or an old-fashioned ice box pie. Try out one of the following recipes to enjoy this season’s peaches to the fullest – no oven required.

Have an idea for a local food story? Reach Herald food writer Bobbi Maiers at [email protected].