I got amazing bi-colour corn from my bean man http://nestingbaltimore.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-triad.html at the downtown market. He's on a corner facing out to Saratoga Street, kind of catte-corner to Keiffer Mitchell's orange juice stand and he's up and running by 6 AM. I have also been getting the most incredible white peaches and white nectarines (the ultimate fruit), and also very very yummy regular peaches and nectarines from Doug my quince guy http://nestingbaltimore.blogspot.com/2007/09/wake-up-and-smell-coffee-er-peaches.html . His stand faces Fallsway, two to the left of the organic folks on the corner, and he is always set up and ready for business by 6 AM.

EL - don't know if they still have it, but Dottie's reccomendation of Weber's is actually the 2nd one I've gotten this year. Apparently they had bicolored corn earlier in the summer.

There is some York County bicolor at the Saturday market in Bel Air. The peach man has told me that stone fruits are doing very badly this year -- and he does a lot of heritage varieties.

I've bought peaches this year from a few different vendors, both farmers markets as well as Whole Foods and Eddie's. I really haven't been happy. The peaches have been juicy, but not really sweet. Maybe we need a drought to concentrate the sugars, I don't know.

It doesn't do farmers any good to buy inferior product, whether it be peaches, "fair trade" coffee or cars.

On the other hand, paying more for equal or better local product is something I'll cheerfully do, to a point that varies based on phase of the moon, distance to paycheck, the real inflation rate (adjusted for energy costs) and how well the Detroit Red Wings are doing.

Oh where, oh where has our Owl Meat gone,
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his pointed ears and his happy crazy banana friends,
Oh where, oh where can he be?

I'm astounded by the peach complaints. We get ours from Reid's on Sunday, and they have been delicious this year. They have certainly been juicy, but I would not call them watery. Both the yellow peaches and the small, squat ones whose name I have forgotten have been at least as good as in any season within memory.

I have a Calvert Farm CSA and have gotten corn the past two weeks, which is bicolored and very delicious cooked on the grill. I highly recommend it. I also recommend checking out their little blue potatoes, which are also delicious grilled with a little olive oil and salt. YUM!

All summer we've been having the not-very-sweet problem with the fruit from the market. I got strawberries like 5 weeks in a row just hoping that the next time they'd be better. At least it's all good for baking with - I just add more sugar than usual. But I can't really buy fruit at the grocery store during the summer, it just seems wrong.

Last weeks plums I got were delicious though!

BTW, Your Royal Empress Highness Self, great pic. New phone?

Thanks! This was my Digital Elph. My phone is so ancient (3 years old) they don't even sell the battery for it anymore. I have to special order it. I'm holding out for an iPhone that has Verizon service. EL

I got some very juicy sweet near perfect peaches recently at a road side produce stand. But I'm wondering - Why are local peaches so dang small?

The best peaches I ever got were at a farmers market in Breckenridge, Colorado one recent August. And they were nice and big. Perfect for hikes. Hi Bucky!

Hi. Bourbon Girl. You know, you have good taste all around. Breckenridge is, IMHO, the best of all the Colorado ski towns.

If you poured some bourbon over some peaches, then lit it, would that be a fancy dessert or a waste of good bourbon?

I got some donut peaches at Weber's Cider Mill Farm yesterday. I'd never had them before, but one of the men working offered me half of one and I was totally sold! They're super tasty and sweet. He also showed me the easiest way to eat peaches -- just break the donut in half and pop out the pit. Easy to pull off the skin (if you don't like peach skin), easy to pop out the pit, and super easy to eat!

I guess they have just started offering samples of their fruits this year, but it definitely made me buy some fruit, along with the peach cake that I came into buy.

Bucky it would be a waste of good bourbon if it is a good peach. No reason not to just pour the bourbon and eat the peach. If the peach is a little bruised or slightly overripe then I would be willing to flame it with the good stuff.

In peach season I buy them only at Weber's. They're a little smaller this year than in the past, but very tasty. And Weber's is the only place I've found decent plums; everyplace else I've tried they're hard and never ripen, just rot...TOTAL ick!

I thought I was the only one who kept getting watery peaches this year! We're new to the area, and everyone kept raving about Maryland peaches and I couldn't figure it out - good to know this is might be an off year. Good tip as well about the donut peaches at Weber's - will get some tomorrow :)

We went to the farmer's market in downtown Baltimore this am, and got some peaches from Reid's.
I just tried one of the peaches. Half of the peach was just ripe, juicy (not watery) and sweet; the other half of the same peach was hard, sour and had no juice.
I am not a peach farmer. Does this mean that the ripe sweet side faced the sun and the other side didn't?
I hope the other peaches are better.

I received my haul from Weber's today including peaches. Small (as noted previously by several) but quite delicous.

Bucky, your bourbon comment made me remember years ago when a few of us got together at a friends house and wolfed her mother's crock of brandy fruit. Very delicous and it made us pretty tipsy!

I avoid supermarket peaches, and I'm even hesistant about the peaches at the farmer's market. My family usually takes 2 trips/ summer to Thurmont, MD, outside of Fredrick, to buy peaches directly from an orchard. It's definitely worth the trip.

I bought both bicolor corn and peaches from Swamp Fox Farms at the Catonsville farmers market last week and was happy with both. I honestly don't know the details of Swamp Fox's operation though, and have always been slightly suspicious of their low, low prices and wide variety of produce...

Webers has always had great fruit. Their pies are also to die for. Here's hoping that they stick around for many years to come.

Since this is sort of the fruit topic, I had my first southern hemisphere clementine of the summer this morning. mmmm....

I have not heard anyone mention AA County yet. Has anyone tried Boyers Orchard in Severn yet. They have some of the best peaches I have tasted in years.