Molly McGinn

LOCAVORE’S DELIGHT: The Series # 16. Follow us all summer long as we explore the bounty of our region’s farms.

by MOLLY McGINN

Nothing’s better than late summer peaches. It’s the platonic ideal of what a peach should be. Juicy, supple, and free of stones. Most folks think a peach ripens all summer to get to this perfect, late summer state. Not so.

Timing is everything. Of the 200 peach varieties, there are 12 that thrive in North Carolina, according to NC State’s agriculture department. Each variety comes and goes — thrives in its own window of the season. A few varieties are peaking right now with one more to go before the end of summer.

To honor late summer peaches, we offer four recipes for the three stages of a peach: underripe, ripe, and overripe, as well as a few peach-picking tips if you’re picking off a tree, or off…