Schools are out and temperatures are rising, and that fruit section at the grocery is starting to blossom. The price of peaches starts to inch its way down, and when cherries hit $3 a pound, we start buying bags of them like toilet paper in a pandemic.
When one hears stone fruit, I think most of us think of peaches, nectarines, plums, and maybe apricots. But don’t forget cherries, mangos, or pluots (a cross between a plum and an apricot). I aim for as diverse a mix as I can get at the grocery store or farmers market. But if there are no plums, for instance, I merely increase the amount of something else. Flexible and easy-going is the summer salad vibe. No one’s going to protest if some plump blueberries end up in it instead of stone fruit.
