Summer in Fort Mill is all peaches

The perfect peach doesn’t happen overnight.

It takes months to grow the sweet, round fruit that lines the shelves at The Peach Stand in Fort Mill, said Ron Edwards, manager at Springs Farm in Fort Mill, which provides the produce for the store.

Spring Farm also sells peaches and other produce and both shops serve fresh ice cream, including peach, strawberry and blackberry flavors.

The first step is knowing the right varieties to grow, Edwards said. Springs Farm grows nearly 48 types of the fruit on 50 acres of the farm, including nectarines, white peaches, yellow peaches and freestone peaches.

“It gives you a broad spectrum on what peaches are the best,” Edwards said.

The farmer said Cal Red peaches are his favorite.

“It’s a nice little peach,” he said. “Its sweet and its real good.”

Growing the peaches starts with finding the right peach trees, which Springs Farm gets from a nursery, Edwards said. Once the trees are planted, they take nearly three years to produce the fruit. The farm replace the trees, which normally live about 15 years, as needed.

The farm also had to build fences to protect the trees from deer, Edwards said.

Peach trees have to be pruned in the beginning of the year when the weather turns cold, when small buds start to fill the branches. If the weather permits, the buds will turn to peaches in March, to be picked once they have ripened.

Edwards said bright color and proper size determines a good peach. He said some varieties are deep red while some are orange. As different trees producefruit, Edwards said farmers have to be aware of how the peach should look when it’s ready to be picked.

“It’s a very labor intensive crop,” he said.

Farmers have to ensure there aren’t too many peaches overloading the trees’ limbs and have to pick off extras throughout the season, a process called thinning, Edwards said. Workers spray the trees to protect them from pests.

Even with the dedication Springs Farm commits to its peaches, cold weather can mean a smaller yield, Edwards said. This year, the farm lost a good deal of its stock to the cold.

“Our world revolves around the weather,” he said. “We have to hope for a better year next year.”

Edwards said the farm will harvest what it can and supplement its supply with peaches from other local farms.

“They will be good South Carolina peaches,” he said.

Peach treats

The brown butter bourbon raspberry peach crisp topped with Georgia peach ice cream and caramel is just one of the dishes served at the Flipside Café in Fort Mill, said Rachel Smetana, sous chef.

Flipside uses South Carolina peaches in its seasonal dessert menu, which changes with what ingredients are available, said Smetana, who helped open Flipside more than a year ago. She wrote the recipe for the bourbon crisp, which combines some of her favorite foods.

“I love drinking bourbon and I love eating peaches,” she said. “I wanted to put my own spin on it. The bourbon awakened a lot of those flavors that bring out the peaches.”

Smetana said she wanted to make sure to get something using peaches on the menu while they are in season. Smetana said the crisp falls between a cobbler and a pie.

“It’s one of my best selling desserts,” she said. “The people down here go crazy with it.”

Creating the dessert, Smetana leaves the skin on the peaches.

“It adds a lot of color to the dish,” she said.

Mixing in raspberries gives the dessert a pinkish hue as it cooks and the red blends in with the orange of the peaches, Smetana said.

“It’s very aesthetically pleasing to the eye,” she said.

Smetana, who has more than six years’ experience in the culinary industry, said the trick to baking with peaches is to ensure the fruit is not too hard or too soft. She said using uniform peaches without bruising also makes a difference.

“It’s a lot of fun being able to work with all of these local ingredients,” she said.

No peaches wasted

Local is also key at The Peach Stand, where no peach goes to waste.

The soft peaches, too ripe for customers but ready to eat, make their way into one of the stand’s most popular treats – peach cobbler, said Sherri McMurray, Peach Stand store manager.

“We try to find a use for them,” she said. “You want to choose a nice, very soft peach to cook with.”

The stand’s baker creates about 10 cobblers a day during the week and as many as 20 a day during weekends at the peak of the peach season, McMurray said.

“Peach cobbler has always been a big hit at the bakery,” she said.

Another way to use local produce at The Peach Stand Cafe is the seasonal salad featuring the fruit of the season, McMurray said.

The salads feature spring mix topped with the homegrown in-season fruit, walnuts, feta cheese and red onions. The dressing also ties in the current seasonal fruit.

The salad was a hit during strawberry season, McMurray said.

“They were so good,” she said.

The peach salad is served with a peach vinaigrette dressing.

“We will be using peaches more than we ever have,” McMurray said.

Residents can also enjoy the peaches just as they are, but you’ll want to get them a few days before you want to start eating them, McMurray said. The stand’s peaches, all picked at Springs Farm, come to the store firm and last about a week.

To quicken the ripening process, put the peaches in a paper bag on the kitchen counter and let soften one to two days, McMurrary said. She said peaches should not be put in the refrigerator.

As the season progresses, the peaches will become softer, with the meat coming away from the seed easier than in the early months, McMurray said. Those types, known as freestone peaches, are the best for canning or freezing.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Summer in Fort Mill is all peaches."