You can't peruse a food magazine these days without coming across an article touting the benefits of regionally grown food and the locavore movement. Summer is the season for fresh fruit and farmers markets are crowded with shoppers in pursuit of flavorful, ripe bounty.
But to get really close to the source, try a U-Pick orchard. You may never want to go back to the chain supermarket variety of so-called fresh fruit, stacked high, well lit, but often hard and tasteless.
I had the opportunity to go on a "field" trip (literally) with the Bakers Dozen group to Andy's Orchard in Morgan Hill. Before heading out for a harvest walk through the fruit trees, we sampled 73 varieties of stone fruit: peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots (a hybrid of a plum and an apricot).
While I only got through about half the tasters, I understood immediately that these fruits are complex, like wine, and different notes play on the palate. A Baby Crawford peach, very similar to yellow peaches which originated in China, strikes a perfect balance between sweetness and acidity. I learned that nectarines, which also came from China, are simply peaches without the fuzz.
Take the plum... there are firm plums, juicy plums... plums with flesh that can be green, yellow, red or purple. For as long as I can remember, I've always spit the skin out when eating a plum because it's too sour for my taste. Fresh picked off the tree, no problem. I'm proud to say I ate all the skins!
I'm a city girl, born and bred, so all I've ever picked are container-grown cherry tomatoes. Andy's Orchard sends a scout out with you to point out the ripe fruit and then you simply twist it gently off the branch. The day I was there, my haul cost me $2 a pound and there was no second-guessing about ripeness.
Like the venerable Harry & David up in Oregon, Andy's will ship fruit by mail order. A carton of fresh fruit (8-12 pieces) costs $50, including shipping in foam-lined cartons to prevent bruising. A box of 8-12 peaches will ship from Harry & David's for $29.95 plus shipping ($8.95). Andy's also offers dried fruit and dark chocolate-dipped apricots and donut peaches.
Andy Mariani, a Master Gardener and rare fruit expert, grows one of the largest selections of heirloom and new varieties of stone fruit in California, including cherries and apricots, on the family-owned farm in the Santa Clara Valley. All the fruit is tree-ripened and handpicked. Mariani supports Buy Fresh, Buy Local. Tours and tastings take place in the summer and group arrangements can be made.
Andy's Orchard, 1615 Half Road, Morgan Hill, 408-782-7600 or www.andysorchard.com