Nectarines

Choosing desserts for summer menus is an easy task. Nine out of 10 times, I prepare a dish with whatever fruit are in season. I go to my local farmers' market, pick out the freshest and best-looking fruit, then at home turn my purchases into simple confections. Those all-American standbys -- crisps, crumbles, cobblers and buckles -- are among my favorites because they take only a few minutes to assemble and are unfailingly popular with guests. People often wonder what distinguishes one of these fruit desserts from another.

Peaches are delicious and abundant this year. Here are some peachy facts.* The peach is the third most purchased fruit in the country behind bananas and apples, and the yearly consumption is pretty consistent.* One peach (five ounces) has about 50 calories. It is high in potassium (210 milligrams), low in sodium, has no fat, about 3.3 grams of fiber, lots of fructose and is sweeter-tasting than a plum or apple. Peaches are 80 percent water by weight, juicier than apples. As they ripen they become sweeter because the acid level is reduced.

It's a game played out at many homes with citrus fruits: Which fruits need to be refrigerated and which belong on the counter? It depends on whether the fruit is picked before it's fully ripe. Cooking Light magazine compiled this list:Do refrigerate: Apples, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, grapes, pomegranates, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines.Don't refrigerate until fully ripe: Avocados, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums.

Curious facts about favorite fruits.Peaches:*It takes a peach tree about five years to start bearing commercially acceptable fruit, and then it will bear for 18 to 20 years.*For years, the peach was a cult object in China, where for poets, sculptors and artists it was a symbol of immortality.Nectarines:*There is -- and ever has been -- the popular belief that the nectarine is a cross between a plum and a peach. It's not true. The nectarine was bred by botanists in England.*Most of the 150 California varieties of nectarines have been developed since World War II.Pears:*An English schoolmaster named Stair found a yellow pear growing wild and sold it to a nurseryman who named the pear Stair.

The first time I saw an espaliered peach tree spread-eagled against a brick wall, I was shocked. It was so unnatural. The branches had been pinioned in place and forced to adhere to an arbitrary growth habit that seemed vaguely akin to footbinding. But I was also fascinated. Flattening the tree into a two-dimensional shape was just so practical. The south-facing wall against which it was trained absorbed the sun's heat, thereby extending the growing season. The single-plane branching meant that all leaves and fruit are exposed to sunlight, which significantly increases per-square-foot production.

Wine and food have a special affinity. Though both are perfectly capable of standing on their own, the two are strengthened through their union at the dinner table.Much is made about selecting the "right" wine to go with food -- red wines with red meat, white wines with chicken and fish. And while there are good reasons for following that dictum, the best ++ wine to select for a particular meal is the one that pleases you most.The following menu is a simple one, designed to enhance wine and the pleasure that comes from pairing it with food.

My husband and one of his best friends were born the same year only a day apart and love to celebrate their birthdays together. His pal and his wife are always at their home on Cape Cod in July, so everyone gathers there for the festivities. We always steam lobsters for the main course and order a big cake for dessert, but we vary the appetizers and side dishes year to year. Aware that both our husbands love steak, our hostess added some "turf" to our "surf" menu by preparing delicious beef kebabs as starters.

Fall menus are arriving. Bluegrass Tavern executive chef Ray Kumm rolled out his fall menu on Sept. 9. Debuting at Bluegrass -- elk tartare, with violet mustard dressing, marinated corn and fried quail egg. Foie gras is back, with crispy pork belly, nectarines and cherry bourbon pudding. Cockles are on the light fare menu, steamed with four kinds of onions. Rabbit is on the menu, and butter poached sturgeon, but what caught my eye was this entree. Pan seared red drum -- tasso ham tortelli, cockles, chayote, tomato broth.

Sometimes when I cut a peach in half, the flesh comes away from the pit like a dream, but sometimes it hangs on for dear life. What am I doing wrong? You're not doing anything wrong except failing to recognize the difference between freestone peaches and clingstones. These two terms, which probably sound vaguely familiar, can be used to describe any "stone fruit" (e.g. peaches, nectarines, plums, etc.). Prudence Wickham, one of the partners of Wickham's Fruit Farm in Cutchogue, N.Y., explains that freestone and clingstone are not varieties of peaches - "they are characteristics."

WASHINGTON - Apples, peppers, celery and cherries top a list compiled by an environmental research organization of the 12 fruits and vegetables it says are the most contaminated by pesticides. The report from the Environmental Working Group ranks pesticide contamination for 46 fruits and vegetables, based on more than 100,000 lab tests conducted between 1992 and 2001 by the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Additional testing was done on organic produce by the state of California.