What Fruit Equals Summer to You?
Before we start talking Texas fruit, let’s chat about summer fruit in general. Which one triggers your summer juices and memories? For me, it’s raspberries. Well, and peaches. The smell, texture, and taste just send me back. Ok, watermelon is high up on that list. It seems I can’t narrow this list at all! So many lazy days of summer eating the berries off the bushes and spitting the watermelon seeds (back when they had seeds!) The family vacations with the cherries you pick up at the fruit stand along the way. And, cantaloupe halves scooped out and filled with vanilla ice cream. Happiness, carefreeness, warmth, friends, family, so many special times are wrapped up in that first bite of strawberry shortcake or that bowl of peaches and half-n-half.
The Texas Fruits of Summer
Now that we’re Texans, it’s fun to discover and taste our local fruits. Lots of similarities with PNW fruits, but some distinct differences as well. Both areas share lush, juicy berries and plums, but not many peaches, grapefruits, and oranges grew in Kitsap County.
I have to admit the blackberries (thought those just grew up there – we did have the Blackberry Festival after all!) are pretty tasty down here. And, there are those Poteet strawberries from Poteet, Texas with their own festival. I can’t wait to try those early next summer.
Did you know that the Ruby Red Grapefruit comes from Texas? A totally famous Texas fruit! Grapefruits, oranges and other citrus treasures will be showing up in a couple of months. I. Can’t. Wait. Wyatt and I love eating a yummy, juicy Pecos cantaloupe. My favorite melon though has to be the H.E.B. quartered watermelons. Perfect size for the fridge and ready to be sliced.
Fredricksburg, Texas is famous for its peaches and it is extremely apparent why once you bite into one of those beauties! I’m linking to a peach pie recipe below to try with Texas peaches or those available to you.
H.E.B. or a Farmers’ Market
There are several Farmers’ Markets near Temple that I want to try. I’ve heard some are better than others. But, all offer a wide variety of Texas fruits.
- West Temple Park on Tues and Thurs, right around the corner from Quiet Hollow 🙂
- Bell County Farmers Market on Saturdays across from Miller’s Barbecue in downtown Belton.
- Troy, Killeen, Harker Heights, and Salado all have Markets.
- Poulsbo still has its expansive Farmers Market on Saturdays through the summer. Such a good one!
H.E.B. features Texas fruit, produce, and products. So, if you just can’t make it to a local market, you can always swing by ‘Your H.E.B.’ for an impressive selection. Back in Kitsap County, Safeway, Central Market, and Red Apple always came through with the good stuff!
Texas Fruit Recipes
There will be three new recipes added to the Recipes on QH page inspired by this post.
- Burrata Arugula Berry Salad (this is a Mediterranean Diet find. Beautiful and tasty.)
- Peach Pie (Love the Crazy for Crust blog! )
- Pioneer Woman’s Leftover Fruit Bread (I make this all the time now. It’s so good and it’s a fridge cleaner!)
One More Type of Fruit
My heart is truly grateful for fruit! With the natural sweetness, a peach or a watermelon slice will sub nicely for a rich dessert. Fruit adds to our lives. Can you imagine life without fruit?! Especially in the summer, right off the tree or the bush? The Bible talks about another kind of fruit. The Fruit of the Spirit. We’re not talking oranges or plums here, but other ‘fruit’ possibly more necessary to living and experiencing rich lives. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I would love to be a big bowl of fruit salad with those ingredients in my life. Now that could be a life-changing, world-changing recipe!
Your Turn
What fruity memories or stories do you have to tell? Or, maybe you have a ‘to-die-for’ fruit recipe. We’d love to hear. Please share.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
Finding a new purpose in living and joy in the day-to-day was the goal when author Kathy Rowland and her entire family (adult kids and grandkids) moved from the PNW to Texas several years ago. The focus of Quiet Hollow is to encourage ‘next chapter women’ – those who are retired, empty-nesters, or have found themselves without a spouse to jump back into life. And, she shares multiple tips, ideas, and possibilities toward that end. Kathy completed her almost 30 years as an elementary teacher and hopped into over a decade of volunteer work, side hustle-type businesses, and grandchild care before discovering her unique and fulfilling purpose for the next chapter of life. What you read on Quiet Hollow is a large part of that calling. Another part is the happy life she’s leading in Central Texas in the same neighborhood as the 3 big kids and her 5 grandkids. She and her college sweetheart husband made sure to add a pool to their new Texas home, so there are lots of noisy, splashy days in their little oasis of a backyard. Come join her on Quiet Hollow in a conversation about finding and living the life you were created to live in this later stage. The chats will be full of laughter, support, faith, and inspiration to create.
My husband and I were out for a walk the other night and smelled the fragrance of the blackberries. With the warm sun shining during the day, the sweet smell of the berries lingered into the evening. That’s a summer memory for sure! It’s great that Texas has blackberries, too! Another summer fruit for me is fresh peaches. When we lived in MN, we looked forward to stopping in Central WA to pick up a box or two of peaches to take back to MN with us. Grocery store peaches just cannot measure up to an orchard ripened fresh peach!
I like the idea of a fruit salad made from the fruits of the spirit! That’s a recipe that I can work on including in my life!