Fresh Fruit Season is Here!

Stone Fruit Season will be here soon…and you really don’t want to miss the five months of the sweetest, juiciest fruit you may ever have! Cherries, apricots and peaches show up at the Modesto Certified Farmers Market and that means our favorite fruit time of year! You’ll enjoy nectarines, white peaches, pluots and every variety of stone fruit imaginable while visiting farm stands and picking up the regions’ fresh produce, locally made cheeses, almonds (plus all sorts of seasoned nuts!) and even enjoy a tasting of oils and vinegars at the nation’s oldest operating olive oil company, Sciabica Family Olive Oil.

Learn a Little More About Modesto

What is a Stone Fruit?

In case you were wondering what a ‘stone fruit’ is there are a few explanations but it all boils down to the pit (the stone). Any fruit that has pulp around a stone is considered a stone fruit. The stone is NOT the seed…the seed is inside the stone. Most commonly, stone fruits are considered peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines and cherries. Where it gets kind of odd is with the stone fruits often considered berries; cherries, raspberries and blackberries. That ‘odd list’ goes on with mangoes, coconuts and even olives being stone fruit. But we digress.

Let’s talk stone fruit right here in the heart of California’s Central Valley: Modesto. Many food and travel authors have listed the peaches from here as being the best you may ever find. There’s white, there’s yellow, there’s Fay Alberta and more. But those are not all on farm stands yet…you need to wait until the summer to really have peaches you’ll remember for years! Then there’s the pluot; these incredible fruits are a hybrid between the Japanese plum and an apricot. They were created right here in Modesto by the late Floyd Zaiger, founder of Zaiger’s Genetics and a legend in the business as a stone fruit breeder.

Don’t wait to grab peaches and pluots by the flat…start getting your fresh stone fruit right now. Whether it’s at the Modesto Certified Farmers Market or one of the many farm and ag stands in the area, you’ll find lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to take home. Check out our seasonality chart to see when your favorite fruits and vegetables are freshest. Looking forward to seeing you at a farm stand soon!