British Columbia

There’s so much to love about summer in British Columbia: greenery, beaches, fresh produce. And most notably, peaches, the best fruit there is.

Admittedly, the stone fruit is widely available all through the year nowadays, thanks to imports from places as far-flung as Chile, Argentina, California and New Zealand. But it’s only irresistible from mid-July to early September, when B.C.’s 600-odd growers gift us with 4.6 million kilograms of velvety, sun-softened, fragrant and fully superior peaches.

Give me a peach in October, and I turn into J. Alfred Prufrock, who famously asked, “Do I dare to eat a peach?”

Give me a peach in July, when I know it’s a fresh Okanagan Redhaven, Glohaven or Cresthaven, picked in Penticton and bursting with flavour? I’ll eat the whole thing before asking myself if I’m hungry.

As I’ve written previously, B.C. fruit is not only downright delicious; it’s practically overabundant most summers.

Blink, and a bucket of blueberries seems to materialize in your house; the same goes for peaches, piled high in their biodegradable, pulp berry baskets and bought for a pittance wherever fresh produce is sold.

Not this summer, though.