Peachy keen
Bounty of Texas’ sweetest crop stars through August
There are plenty of crops that do our state proud: pecans, grapefruit, rice, sorghum and even peanuts. But it’s a juicy, blushing charmer that’s in the spotlight now.
Welcome to Texas peach season. Through August, Texas peach trees are unleashing their bounty — more than two dozen varieties that make the peaches the state’s leading deciduous fruit crop. The peach season is typically bookended by Memorial Day and Labor Day, making the stone fruit one of summer’s most welcome pleasures.
Whether eaten out of hand or used for cooking, baking or canning, this year’s crop is going to be one to savor.
“They’re going to be very sweet. It’s going to be a good year,” said Lisa Lightsey, a third-generation farmer whose Lightsey Farms in Mexia boasts about 100 acres of peaches. Lightsey’s blush-hued beauties are available on Saturdays at the Urban Harvest Farmers Market, 2752 Buffalo Speedway. Last Saturday there was a line for those peaches, sold for $12 per bag.
By mid-June, the season will be in full swing, said Kristen Restani, manager of Burg’s Corner in Stonewall, a popular Hill Country source for peaches from Jimmy Duecker Orchards (Duecker is Restani’s father).
If the Memorial Day weekend was any indication, Texas is ready — and hungry — for its annual crop of peaches.
“We have been busier than ever. We had a record Memorial Day weekend. It was bigger than some of our bumper-crop years,” Restani said. “It’s been a really great crop. We had wacky weather in the Hill Country, but fortunately it didn’t impact us too much. I’d give our crop close to 70 percent across the board this year. A bumper crop is a full crop with almost no loss of peaches. Any time we get 60 percent or higher, we’re definitely excited about it.”
Excitement was stoked recently by the Georgiabased Peach Truck that includes Texas in its annual eight-state tour. Houstonians who pre-ordered Georgia peaches were able to pick them up recently at multiple drop-off sites in Houston.
But with good Texas peaches from Texas Hill Country, Houston is well served by home-grown fruit. According to texaspeaches.com, which represents growers from the Hill Country Fruit Council, Texas peach varieties are abundant, beginning with cling peaches and then semifreestones and freestones as the season progresses. The website lists peach growers concentrated in the Fredericksburg area.
Texas’ hotter, drier climate concentrates peach sugars, Restani said.
“We also have great soil, which is one of the reasons our peaches taste so good,” she added. “I’m going to tell you ours are the best.”
Chef Ryan Pera would agree. The chef/owner of Agricole Hospitality restaurants (Coltivare, Indianola, Eight Row Flint, Vinny’s and Revival Market)
is using Texas peaches in both sweet and savory dishes.
“A peach is my favorite fruit. I’m from the Carolinas, so I have vivid memories of South Carolina peaches,” he said.
At Coltivare, he grills peaches and corn for a salsa over pork or beef; there’s a smoked duck and peach salad with arugula and hazelnuts; and grilled peach bruschetta with prosciutto and arugula. At Indianola, the menu includes a peach crostada and grilled peaches on pork chops. Pera is currently working with peaches from Lightsey Farms but is ready to embrace Fredricksburg peaches.
In a few more weeks, some of the best Texas varieties will peak. And that’s when the fruit can — and does — hold its own against any other state’s prized peaches.
“It’s all about the timing,” Pera said. “There is that moment in time when you get a perfect Texas peach, and it’s every bit as good as a Georgia peach.”