Hold the phone, everybody, because we’re about to enter my favorite part of the summer. Don’t get me wrong. I love that the warm summer weather brings with it all sorts of new fruits and vegetables, but as the weeks wear on, I always get just a little bit tired of the same old acidic citruses and watery melons. (I’m not talking to you, strawberries; I’ll always love you.) But now I can set aside those fruits, because from July to September, stone fruits are here! Whether they’re in a dessert or a crockpot, these fruits are always juicy and sweet. So go get your peaches, apricots, nectarines and cherries while they last!
Because I love them so much, I use stone fruits in my cooking as much as possible during these short months. This is the time when I usually make apricot jam, cherry cobbler and plum ice cream—one time I even made fruit leather! I thought I knew all the tricks, but just this summer my aunt showed me to a new way to prepare these delicious fruits: by grilling them!
I’m pretty confident in the kitchen but I have to admit, in my mind I’ve always thought of the outside grill as Man Territory: Do Not Enter. (It didn’t help that my dad used to guard that grill as jealously as a dragon). But for the sake of my delicious summer stone fruits, I was willing to try it. Here are some of the grilling tips I learned and some delectable summer recipes to try out on your own!
Peel: To peel a stone fruit for grilling, bring a pot of water to boiling and drop the fruit in for 10-20 seconds. The boiling water should loosen the skin for easy peeling without damaging the flesh inside. If you choose to leave the peel on, the fruit will cook slower, but the peel also helps it retain some texture and extra juice.
Pit and Juice: Remove the pit from the fruit over a bowl to catch excess juice. Where the recipe calls for water, use the fruit juice instead to get extra flavor. When grilling, you can brush this juice over the fruit so that the slices don’t dry out as easily.
Skewer: Slice smaller stone fruits like cherries and plums in half and skewer them on wooden spears to prevent them from falling into the grill.
Grilled Apricots with Fromage Blanc
Grilled Peaches with Fresh Cherry Sauce
Grilled Peaches with Mint and Basil Ricotta
Grilled Fruit with Balsamic Vinegar Syrup
This is just a small slice of all the recipes for fruits you can put on a grill. But it turns out that stone fruits aren’t the only fruits that are really grill friendly. Apples, pineapples, cantaloupes and pears can all take the heat too!
Have any grilled fruit or stone fruit recipes of your own? Share your tips and tricks with us in the comments!
