How a wait for 25 pounds of perfect peaches paid off
Peach Truck vendors find niche in freshness
Have you actually ever eaten a perfect peach? That juicy, sweet, fragrant, soft, drippy goodness that begs you to pause, close your eyes and just be in the moment? Alice Waters deemed it the perfect food, but in reality, there are a lot of imperfect peaches to be had. Many peaches are mealy and bland, picked too early and shipped for miles and miles, just to sit on grocery store shelves. That is exactly what compelled Jessica and Stephen Rose to launch the Peach Truck in 2012.
Stephen didn’t intend to be a peach whisperer. Growing up in Georgia, he took them for granted, but when he and Jessica, his Seattle-born wife, moved to nearby Nashville, Tennessee, he was shocked that the peaches they were eating were woefully subpar. When the couple took a trip back to Georgia and Jessica tried her first perfectly ripe peach just off the tree, she was smitten.
“We thought, what if we could bring these peaches to Nashville?” Stephen said. “We would cut out the middleman, and people could eat the fruit at peak freshness and maximum sweetness.” They would eliminate the grocery store. With no hardcore plan, the couple hauled their first batch back to Nashville in Stephen’s 1964 Jeep Gladiator and sold the peaches at a local market, right off the back of the truck.
That first summer, the Roses held onto their full-time jobs, but they worked tirelessly on evenings and weekends, traveling back and forth to Fort Valley, Georgia, to pick up the fruit from Pearson Farm and bring it back to their growing base of Nashville consumers, to be sold within 24 hours of picking. They sold nearly 20,000 pounds of peaches that year, a success that compelled them to quit their day jobs the following summer to work solely on packing and selling peaches.
According to the USDA, Georgia grows more than 80 million pounds of peaches each year, most of which come from small, family-operated farms. Cold winters; hot, humid summers and Georgia’s rich clay soil are ideal conditions for growing peaches. Peach trees require a certain number of chill hours — ideally, winters that are under 45 degrees — for optimal growth, but with the warming climate in Georgia and through the Southeast, growers have had to adjust.
“When I was growing up, we had many late-variety peaches that required over 1,000 hours of chill,” says Will McGehee, the fifth-generation grower at Pearson Farm and marketing director of the Georgia Peach Council. “Today, we are maxed out at 800-hour varieties. We’ve had to make the adjustment down in order to set the crop.”
Despite the shift in climate, peach season still starts in May with clingstones, aptly named because their flesh sticks to the pit, and eventually segues into easy-to-eat freestones. By midAugust, Georgia peach season is over.
Asked how to measure the success of the Peach Truck and its impact on the Georgia Peach industry, McGehee says you have to look at the trees. “You can tell the health of the industry by who is planting trees, and how many,” he says. “When things are going well and there’s excitement, you start planting a lot.”
For the past three decades, according to McGehee, the industry has been stagnant. But in the past few years, 170,000 new trees were planted, an increase of 27 percent, which amounts to roughly 85 million additional peaches in the market each year. McGehee says growers chalk it up to the Peach Truck buzz. “They’ve made it cool to stand in line and wait to buy a 25pound box of peaches! It’s a dream come true for us.”
For those who aren’t on the Peach Truck tour route, the Roses say they take care to ship the peaches so they arrive perfectly intact and ready to ripen. The peaches are shipped direct
ly from the farm the day they are picked, and they arrive within three days of picking. Despite the custom-made packaging and attention to detail, things don’t always go as planned.
“At the end of the day, we’re always at the mercy of the shipping process and Mother Nature,” Stephen said. “We never want to have peaches arrive to the customer in less than perfect condition, but we always make it right in those cases.”
When your peaches do arrive, they’ll be slightly firm, almost like an avocado. It’s best to leave the peaches out on the kitchen counter and check them daily. When the peach gives a little, it’s ready to eat. You can also use your nose. “Scent is the best indicator of flavor,” Jessica said. If you have more peaches than you can eat in a day, you can refrigerate ripened peaches for almost two weeks. Just don’t expect hard peaches to ripen in the fridge; instead, they’ll get mealy — the same issue that occurs with most subpar supermarket peaches.
Over the past few years, the peach community has been asking for recipes to expand beyond hand-to-mouth eating. That was the impetus for the Roses’ new cookbook, aptly named “The Peach Truck Cookbook” (2019, Scribner). “After seven summers of cooking with peaches ourselves in our kitchen, we had a lot of ideas,” Jessica said.
While peaches are certainly ideal in classics like peach pie and peach jam, there is no limit to what can be made with the fruit, with possibilities as diverse as sticky glazed ribs, pickled peach deviled eggs and peach tamales. Peaches roasted alongside chicken get used to make a deeply flavorful and fresh-tasting sauce for the crisp chicken. A crunchy, vibrant, Asian-inspired peach salad includes watermelon, cucumbers and a tangle of fresh herbs and crunchy peanuts — perfect to accompany any simple grilled protein from fish and chicken to duck and beef. Even overripe peaches find their way into versatile peach simple syrup to spruce up summer beverages, or to make supremely silky peach butter.
Enjoy them every which way while you can. Because the only problem with perfect peaches is that their season, as sweet as it is, is fleeting.
Fresh Summer Peach Salad
Active: 25 mins, Total: 35 to 40 mins, Total: 35 to 40 mins Thai basil, Thai chilis, crushed peanuts and fresh mint spark this savory, refreshing salad. 1 Thai chili pepper, minced (seeded if
desired)
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2
limes)
2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
(about 1¼ cup)
1 pound peeled seedless watermelon, cut into ¼-inch-thick matchsticks (about 3 cups)
Flesh of 1 ripe mango, cut into ¼-inch-thick matchsticks (about 1 cup)
2 medium peaches, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks or thin wedges (about 2 cups) 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks (about 1 ¼ cups) ½ cup fresh Thai basil leaves
½ cup fresh mint leaves
½ cup chopped, dry-roasted
unsalted peanuts, for garnish Step 1 — Whisk together the chili pepper, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, brown sugar and shallot in a large mixing bowl until combined. Reserve 1⁄2 cup of the vinaigrette separately.
Step 2 — Add the watermelon, mango, peaches, cucumber, Thai basil and mint to the bowl with most of the dressing; gently toss to coat. Scatter the peanuts over the surface of the salad and serve right away, along with the reserved dressing.
Nutrition - Calories: 80; Total
Fat: 2 g; Saturated Fat: 0 g; Cholesterol: 85 mg; Sodium: 300 mg; Carbohydrates: 17 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugars: 13 g; Protein: 1 g.
Adapted from “The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach,” by Jessica N. Rose and Stephen K. Rose (Scribner, 2019).
Lemon Peach Pound Cake
Active: 1 hour 15 mins, Total: 2 hours 15 mins, Servings: 16 (makes 2 loaf cakes)
Finely chopped peaches deliver their peak summer flavor in these tender-crumbed loaves enriched with cornmeal. The recipe comes from Lisa Donovan, who was the pastry chef at Husk in Nashville when Peach Truck owners Jessica and Stephen Rose were delivering Georgia fruit to the restaurant.
You’ll need two 8- or 8 ½- by 4-inch loaf pans.
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
1 ¾ cups (219 grams) flour, plus
more for dusting the pans
1⁄2 cup (75 grams) coarsely ground cornmeal, preferably Anson Mills’ Sweet Appalachian brand 2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking
powder
1 ½ teaspoons (4 grams) kosher salt ½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or
extract
1 ½ cups (300 grams) granulated
sugar
Finely grated zest from 2 to 3 lemons (2 tablespoons), plus ¼ cup juice, or more as needed 4 large eggs, at room temperature 2 cups peeled, pitted, chopped ripe
peaches (about 2 medium)
2 cups (250 grams) confectioners’
sugar, or more as needed
Step 1 — Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a little butter to grease the loaf pans, then dust with flour to coat, shaking out any excess. Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Combine the buttermilk, milk and vanilla bean paste or extract in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.
Step 2 — Combine the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of stand mixer or use a large mixing bowl and a handheld electric mixer; beat on medium speed, about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stop the mixer to scrape down the bowl. Add the lemon zest and beat on medium speed, then add the eggs, one at a time, allowing them to fully incorporate before adding the next.
Step 3 — With the mixer on at medium speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat for about 1 minute, to form a smooth batter. Gently fold in the peaches.
Step 4 — Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smoothing it into the corners. Bake (middle rack) for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. Transfer (in the pans) to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour, then dislodge the cakes and place on a platter.
Step 5 — While they are cooling, whisk together the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl to form a creamy, lump-free glaze, adding more confectioners’ sugar or juice, as needed.
Step 6 — Pour the glaze over the tops of the loaf cakes, then let it set before serving or storing.
Nutrition — Calories: 330; Total Fat: 13 g; Saturated Fat: 9 g; Cholesterol: 85 mg; Sodium: 180 mg; Carbohydrates: 51 g; Dietary Fiber: 1 g; Sugars: 21 g; Protein: 4 g.
Adapted from “The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach,” by Jessica N. Rose and Stephen K. Rose (Scribner, 2019).
Peach Roasted Chicken with Tomato Salad
Active: 25 mins, Total: 1 hour 40 mins, Servings: 4 to 6
This is a glorious summer meal, in which the peaches are roasted along with chicken and then pureed into a sauce for the carved-up bird. The chicken is kept whole for roasting so the meat can remain juicy and the aromatics can work their magic. One 3- to 3 ½-pound whole chicken,
giblet packet removed Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper 1 medium yellow onion, quartered 1 clove garlic
4 medium peaches, halved and Stacy Zarin Goldberg / Washington Post
pitted
6 fresh thyme sprigs
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 fresh bay leaf
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more for the sauce, as needed
For the tomato salad:
1 quart cherry tomatoes, each cut in
half
¾ cup coarsely chopped Marcona
almonds
One (1-inch) piece peeled fresh
ginger root, minced or grated 1 shallot, finely chopped and rinsed 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
8 grinds of black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
Step 1 — For the chicken: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Season the cavity of the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with half the onion, the garlic, 2 peach halves, half the thyme sprigs and the rosemary. Tie/truss the chicken legs together with kitchen twine. Arrange the remaining peach halves, the remaining onion, the remaining thyme sprigs and the bay leaf in a shallow roasting pan, then place the bird on top, breast side down. Pour the lemon juice over the bird, then season the skin generously with salt and pepper.
Step 2 — Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Roast (middle rack) for 1 hour; the chicken will not be cooked through. Remove from the oven, discard the foil and carefully turn the chicken breast-side up. Return to the oven and roast for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the dark meat, taken away from the bone, registers 165 degrees on an instantread thermometer.
Step 3 — While the chicken is in its last 30 minutes of oven time, make the tomato salad: Toss together the tomatoes, Marcona almonds, ginger and shallot in a mixing bowl, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Let sit until ready to serve.
Step 4 — Back to the chicken: Transfer the roasted bird to a cutting board, then take out the peach halves and onion from the cavity and add them to the roasting pan. Discard the herb sprigs and bay leaf. Once the roasting pan mix has cooled a little, transfer it all, including pan juices, to a blender. Start on the lowest speed and gradually increase to form a smooth, peach-colored sauce. Taste, and season with more lemon juice and salt and/or pepper, as needed. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer, if desired.
Step 5 — Carve the chicken into 8 pieces: cut each breast into 2 pieces, 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs (wings are for the cook, or someone else).To serve, spread the tomato salad on a platter. Arrange the chicken pieces on top, then pour half the pureed peach-onion sauce over the chicken. Pass the remaining sauce at the table.
Nutrition — Calories: 680; Total Fat: 47 g; Saturated Fat: 9 g; Cholesterol: 115 mg; Sodium: 670 mg; Carbohydrates: 19 g; Dietary Fiber: 7 g; Sugars: 13 g; Protein: 46 g.
Recipe from chef Matt Bolus of the 404 Kitchen in Nashville; adapted from “The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach,” by Jessica N. Rose and Stephen K. Rose (Scribner, 2019).