Blackberries, blueberries, cantelope, watermelon, peaches, plums, raspberries! When striving to get your  recommended 2-3 servings of fruit a day, these fruits are packed with with nutrients that benefit your health. July is the perfect month to take advantage of fresh local fruit and Haywood County is ripe with opportunities to purchase fresh fruit . All of the fruits listed above can be eaten raw as a snack, over cereal, added to a salad or beverage, added as a side and of course, used as a dessert.  If you love fresh salsa, peaches and watermelon make delicious salsas to snack on or accompany a meal. This Sweet Summer Peach Salsa recipe is loaded with fresh local fruit and vegetables:

Sweet Summer Peach Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, diced
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 2 jalapenos, finely diced
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 pound of peaches, pitted and diced
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, onions and peaches.
2. Add the cilantro, lime juice, and black pepper to the mixture. Mix well.
3. Serve immediately or chill for 1-2 hours to let the flavor develop.

Storing Peaches

• Store peaches at room temperature until ripe.
• To ripen faster store in a closed paper bag.
• Refrigerate ripe peaches in a container with airflow. Use within 3-5 days.
• Gently rub peaches under cool running water just before eating.

If you are interested in putting some of this fresh fruit aside for the rest of the year, there are  a variety of ways to preserve almost all of these fruits  Here are a few of my favorites from the National Center for Home Food Preservation:

Plum Jelly

Canned Peaches

Freezing Raspberries

Cantelope Pickles

Peach Jam with Powdered Pectin

For more information about cooking with or preserving fresh fruit contact Julie_sawyer@ncsu.edu.