South Carolina, the East Coast’s top producer of peaches, is celebrating its state fruit. The season in South Carolina runs from May through September, and there are plenty of places to pick or buy peaches.
Titan Farms, the second peach producing farm in the nation, will ship 20-count and 40-count boxes of peaches nationwide ($29 and $39); you can also find their peaches at some farm stands operated by Sara’s Fresh Market in Aiken, Trenton, and Columbia. Family-owned Fisher’s Orchard in Greer has welcomed pickers since 1930—nearly a dozen varietals are available. The farmers at McLeod Farms, in McBee, grow more than 30 varieties and offer all sorts of tempting peach-based goodness: freshly churned peach ice cream, peach preserves, peach cider, and even peach enchiladas. In Filbert, head to Sanders Peach Farm and Roadside Market, where Dorie Sanders and her family run one of the oldest African-American farms in the region. Sanders’s father, a former sharecropper, bought the land around 1915. They specialize in growing Georgia Bells and Elberta peaches. At Chattooga Belle Farm in Oconee County, you can pick your own, pick up peach products, dine at Belle’s Bistro, or sample spirits at the distillery.
Those more inclined to cook than pick can look up “Peachy Keen: 16 of Charleston’s Sweetest Peach Recipes,” where many of the culinary capital’s celebrated chefs offer recipes incorporating this sweet summer staple.
