The Best Time Of Year For Nature’s Finest

Some think a great steak or lobster dinner is the best eating there is. I won’t argue, but there are two things that I look forward to every year more than any other. Mother Nature’s most excellent gifts of corn and peaches. Not just any corn, for me its Iowa corn, from soil so rich it is black with nutrients. At the end of a good growing season of just the right conditions, there is nothing finer for this boy from the Hawkeye State by birth.

Take an ear of corn with the husk still on and soak it in water for a few hours then toss it on the grill for a few minutes and then peel back the husk, add butter, salt & pepper to taste and you have food of the gods.

And then there are peaches. I have always enjoyed them, but then about 10 years ago, I fell in love with them. I was traveling through Loveland, Colorado and stopped at a roadside stand and sampled some Palisade peaches and it was a taste of heaven. It was the exact right combination of soil, sun, rain and temperatures to produce the perfect crop.

My wife and I enjoyed them raw, in cobbler, in pie, with oat meal and went through a case in no time. Then we bought more and froze them. Since then, we go out of our way to get Palisade peaches. Not every crop is as good as the year before, but “when your worst is still real good, then you’re ok.”

This weekend in Loveland, Colorado, they are having their Corn Festival. In Fort Collins, The Peach Festival. With prior commitments, I can’t get down below the border. But I did find a Wyoming store selling Palisade peaches, two kinds actually. So I thought it time to sample these natural delights and compare.

On the right are the Palisade peaches I am used to, and from this batch they are really good, but not the best I have had. I'd give them a 6 on a 10 scale. On the left, are a new variety that as the produce manager said “Are sweeter with a smaller pit, so more peach.” They are an 9 on a 10 scale. I am very happy.

The peaches are excellent and my wife wants to make some cobbler this afternoon.

Reminds me of a song, ♫ ♪ “Heaven. I’m in heaven….” ♪♫