Omnivore - Saying bye to peaches at Grant Park Farmers Market

If peaches are gone, can apples be far behind?

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I moseyed over to the Grant Park Farmers Market last Sunday in search of fruit. All I could find were these peaches from Watsonia Farms of Monetta, SC.

The guy manning Watsonia’s booth told me that the peach season has ended and he would almost certainly not be returning next week.

We got to talking about the endless peach war between South Carolina and Georgia. Flavor aside, South Carolina far outpaces Georgia in actual production. Georgia farmers claim, though, that their peaches have better flavor.

? ? ?
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Sorry. That’s not true. I grew up often eating South Carolina peaches and I have never tasted a Georgia one that came close. Granted, nostalgia may be part of my preference, to say nothing of the fact that we often snatched peaches from an orchard when we visited my cousins in Darlington, SC.

The market, which is across the street from us, was as fun as usual. Beside the peaches, I scored my usual green and habanero salsas from Zocalo, bread from Holeman & Finch, some grape tomatoes, a tray of okra, a couple of bags of arugula, and a bacon and tomato sandwich, only $6 from Ration & Dram. I took it home and prepared to eat it when my cat Nubs staged an invasion. He liked the bacon, as did I.

By the way, apples were in abundance at the market, but were completely gone by the time I arrived around noon. The kids who were manning the empty booth did offer me free cardboard boxes, however.