Summer is here. What is your favorite fruit and why?

[adminforum]

One of my favorite summer fruits, and certainly the one that brings back the most "summertime memories", is watermelon. I am partial to "black diamond" and I like mine salted.

[Gluey]

Immediately, I think of my childhood back in the 50's - the days of ringer washers and galvanized washing tubs. We'd go to the farm, pick watermelons, taken them home, drag the washer tubs to the back yard, pile the melons in and cover them with ice. After the barbeque, grandma would bring out that super long knife and give us each a huge slice of brain freezing ice-cold Heaven.

In those same tubs, each summer we'd wash and pit what I'm sure were thousands of pounds of cherries (which came from our own trees) - quite a few of which made it to our mouths first.

The best memories and tastes still come from peaches. Ripe, soft peaches that drip juice down your arms and chin as you eat them.

[chiffonade]

My favorite fruit is the blueberry. (Cumulatively, of course = Blueberries :D )

I have fond memories of pouring a dab of heavy cream over blueberries and eating them with a spoon. I love blueberry pie - or just about anything made with blueberries.

I also make a blueberry conserve which I like to give as Christmas gifts (using frozen blueberries - all you can get in December).

[foodie]

When I was a kid, my grandparents had the 20 acre "front yard" planted in strawberries. It was a pick-your-own format where most folks picked 2, ate one (I know I did). The strawberries were so ripe, they need a new word for ripe.

I'd come back from the field with hands and face as though I'd just won a pie eating contest.

[oilyman]

cherries for sure, deep red and sweet, they are so addicting i get sick from eating too many

[pgheats]

Black plums. I love the combination of the tart skin and the sweet, juicy flesh.

[marknsonoma]

White peaches. They are great to smell and the sweetness never seems too much for its depth of flavor.

The exemplify summer for me.

[kitchensqueen]

I love watermelon with salt. So juicy, and nothing tastes like summer more than watermelon.

[KathyDG]

I love cherries for snacking (or gorging, as the mood might be:p). For baking, I like to make plum cakes. I use a recipe with a yeast dough from a Hungarian Cookbook I found online. A woman compiled recipes from her German/Hungarian background (schwabisch) and self-published them. These recipes taste like my Mom's cooking.... The plum cake recipe makes 3 cake pans of plum cake. I eat one, freeze one and give one away!!

[chiffonade]

Kathy - any chance you can post the recipe or give us the author's name? Thanks!