Cream of the peaches

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, get out your napkins. The Jersey peaches are ready, and they're plenty juicy.

"These are dribble-down-your-face Jersey peaches," said Douglas H. Fisher, New Jersey secretary of agriculture, who stood sweating in the heat of an early August morn as the Collingswood Farmers' Market opened Jersey Peach Month.

Next to Fisher glowed the New Jersey Peach Queen for 2009, Michelle Beebe, 17, of Glassboro, crowned at the Gloucester County 4-H fair in July. She looked every bit the peach in a yellow and orange gown and a tiara, with a basket of peaches tucked under one arm.

Contestants for queen, by the way, are not chosen for their beauty, per se, but picked by a panel that considers the nominees' written essays, personal interviews, and two- to five-minute speeches on some peach-related subject.

As Beebe distributed samples to eager onlookers, volunteers at the Collingswood Farmers' Market, most teens themselves, painted pretty peaches on children's cheeks. And Mark Smith, chef/owner of the Tortilla Press in Collingswood, demonstrated a peach tangle, in which peaches are sauteed in butter, brown sugar, and orange juice, served over a heap of cinnamon tortilla strips, and topped with real whipped cream.

Peaches were the center of attention in part because the governor helpfully named August Peach Month, and baskets of the sweet, ripe fruit were for sale, direct from the farms.

This particular fruit is serious business for New Jersey. The state is the fourth-largest peach producer in the country, selling 60-65 million pounds of fruit, or $30 million to $35 million worth a year.

The gentle peach even has its own Promotion Council, which organized the statewide peach party in Collingswood.

From North, South and Central Jersey, 21 restaurants pledged to add peach-centric dishes to their menus through August. Locally, Tortilla Press, Girasole Ristorante in Atlantic City, Washington Inn in Cape May, Archives Restaurant in Trenton, Barnsboro Inn in Sewell, and Blue Plate in Mullica Hill are among the participants.

Though 90 percent of Jersey peaches fall into the umbrella category of "yellow flesh," local farmers grow more than 40 varieties of the yellow, with names such as John Boy, White Lady, Crimson Lady, Harrow Diamond, and Sugar Giant.

The other 10 percent of those grown in Jersey are white-flesh peaches, nectarines and doughnut peaches, which are flat, extra-sugary sweet peaches with a tiny pit. Doughnuts are an heirloom variety that originated in China.

Though most peach lovers couldn't tell the difference between a Harrow Diamond and a Sugar Giant, the variety is key to the long peach season.

Since each variety ripens at a different time, peaches stick around long after the first Jersey apples appear.

The harvest of this year's peach crop started in early July and will extend deep into September, says John Hurff, owner of William Schober & Sons Orchard and Farm Market in Monroeville.

He's been a Collingswood market vendor for seven years and brings peaches every Saturday during the season, along with peach cider, peach butter, and peach salsa, from May to November.

One peach item no one can sell at the market is peach wine - that would be illegal. But you can pick up a bottle of New Jersey Peach Table Wine from Heritage Vineyards in Richwood.

This spring's wonky weather is behind the extra-juicy crop.

Heavy spring rains made the peaches juicier and more flavorful. But while individual peaches might be heavier, total volume could be down, says Hurff, who lost some of his peach crop to an early spring frost.

"They'll be big, but there won't be as many," he said.

About 98 percent of Jersey peaches are shipped and sold within 250 miles of their orchard. In supermarkets, they compete with the crop shipped here from California, the No. 1 peach-producing state in the nation. (Georgia? Ha!) Everyone knows a fresh Jersey peach can't be beat by some cross-country traveler.

"I'm a complete believer," says Smith of Tortilla Press, "that if you're getting them where they're grown, they'll taste better."

Grilled Peach and Tomato Salsa

Makes 2-3 servings

3 ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted

2 ripe tomatoes