Peach

How is this shortcake different from all others? Cake flour makes it extra-tender, for starters, then it's baked in one big circle and bathed in tarragon-infused butter. You might never go back.

The black pepper adds a surprising aromatic and spicy flavor to the sweet grilled peaches. The recipe here makes more syrup than you'll likely need but it will keep in the refrigerator for at least 1 week and is great in a cocktail or with sparkling water.

Buttermilk, packed with calcium and probiotics, lends a subtle tanginess to this spice-spiked lassi. Finish with a sprinkle of chopped pistachios for a hit of crunch.

The spice rub builds a nice flavorful crust around the pork as it cooks, but the sugar can cause the meat to brown quickly. Keep a close watch.

Where a chutney and mustard sauce overlap. Choose a very ripe– even bruised–peach for easy peeling.

Bring your favorite yogurt to a new level of taste with this delicious Frozen Berry Slush recipe from CARNATION BREAKFAST ESSENTIALS. Try it today!

Savory, slow-cooked turkey and crispy skin are enhanced by a smoky pasilla purée and a sweet and tangy peach salsa in these Southern-inspired tacos.

When you're making preserves, fully 50 percent of your success is in the shopping—good fruit makes good jam. Technique matters also, and a sound recipe makes a difference. But the crucial remaining factor is organization. Especially when dealing with a large quantity of perishable fruits or vegetables, you have to think through your strategy and plot out your work. If you can't get everything put up immediately, you have to take into account how the produce will ripen—and soon fade—as it waits for you. My strategy for how to use a bushel of peaches would look something like this: First day/underripe fruit: Pectin levels peak just before ripening, so I'd start with peach jelly. If you don't want to make jelly, give the peaches another day to ripen. First day/just-ripe fruit: Peaches that are fragrant and slightly yielding but still firm enough to handle are ideal for canning in syrup, as either halves or slices in syrup. Second day/fully ripe fruit: As the peaches become tender and fragrant, make jam. Third day/dead-ripe fruit: By now, the peaches will likely have a few brown spots that will need to be cut away, so I'd work up a batch of chutney, which requires long, slow cooking that breaks down the fruit anyway. Fourth day/tired fruit: Whatever peaches haven't been used by now will likely look a little sad, but even really soft, spotty ones can be trimmed for a batch of spiced peach butter. Southern peach chutney evolved from an Indian relish called chatni that British colonials brought home during the days when the sun never set on the Empire. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, chatni is made fresh before a meal by grinding spices and adding them to a paste of tamarind, garlic, and limes or coconut. Pieces of fruit or vegetable may be incorporated, but the chief flavor characteristic is sour. The British turned that into a fruit preserve, explains the Oxford Companion: British chutneys are usually spiced, sweet, fruit pickles, having something of the consistency of jam. Highest esteem is accorded to mango chutney… . Chutney later spread across the Atlantic to the West Indies and the American South, where the esteemed mango was replaced by the honorable peach.

On triple-digit summer days when I have expelled more sweat from my body than I think is possible, replenishing fluids is part of my job. (We can't forget that the health of farmers and farmworkers is a key part of sustainable agriculture.) Although I prefer water, sometimes its zero-calorie refreshment is not quite enough. When I need some sweetness and effervescence, I turn to this homemade soda recipe. It is healthier than commercial soda (economically, environmentally, and biologically) and is a nice treat that reenergizes me for more work. --Nikiko

If I were making dessert for one of my favorite movie stars, George Clooney or Meryl Streep, I'd bake this galette because it is simple, rustic, and honest. If you want to serve it to a large group for a special gathering, the recipe doubles easily to make a 12-inch galette. Accompany with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you have a totally scrumptious home-style dessert. --Marcy

I call this hapa food. The term hapa is deliciously slippery. It is often used to describe mixed-race Japanese Americans but not always. For me, being hapa provides a way of claiming a whole racial and ethnic identity as opposed to thinking of myself as "just" or "only" half-and-half. I am a whole person, and my experience of race, culture, and nationality is more complicated than adding fractions. This dish did not emerge from a place of separation in which two disparate things were fused together, but rather from the co-constitution, interdependence, and wholeness of my life as a hapa growing peaches in the United States and cooking food from my multiple cultural and racial lineages that go far beyond this country¿s borders. I have learned to make and cook my own path. Biting into this treat is like unleashing a burst of glowing peach wrapped in a crunchy cocoon. This could be served as a side dish with other tempura, on top of a salad, or even with green tea ice cream and chile-infused honey as a dessert. When we step outside of rigid categories, possibilities are infinite, no? --Nikiko

On a really hot day, freeze fruit for an hour or two prior to serving—it acts like sweet ice cubes.

It's peak peach season, so what better excuse to whip up this lowfat treat? Goes great over warm peach cobbler, too. Just sayin'.

Grilled peaches turn this simple chicken and arugula salad with mustard dressing into something worth swooning over.

Good ginger beers are made with actual ginger and deliver a nose-tingling hit of spice along with bubbles. Look for Fever-Tree, Reed's, or Fentimans brands.

Feel free to use cooked bulgur, barley, or couscous instead of quinoa

Beer in dessert? When it's a naturally sweet brew, we say pour away.

Lillet, a fruity, easy-drinking fortified wine, is a staple in Chef Ripert's summer pantry.

Some leaves deserve to infiltrate the dessert menu, like lemon verbena, infused here in a whipped cream that can be spooned over just about anything.