All the Berries & Stone Fruit We've Served (So Far)

When the weather's nice, we like to stroll to farmer's market and check out the bounty. It's very easy to come home with a huge haul of berries and stone fruit. For us, it's fun to figure out how many different dishes we can make with them! But if you aren't sure where to start, don't worry, we've gathered sourcing, storing, and cooking advice to use all spring and summer long. And because we love these fruits so much, we curated a bunch of gifts and merch in an Etsy collection.

Tips for Berries

Take it from us, sun-ripened berries straight from the vine are incredible. One our favorite outdoor activities is picking our strawberries at Greig Farm (pictured above) in the Hudson Valley. Not only can you control the quality of the batch by picking them yourself, but you're also supporting the local food system. Knowing exactly where your fruit comes from and how it's handled can influence taste. A lot of fruit in the grocery store is trucked in or flown from far away. It exchanges hands several times before it gets to your home, and sometimes in questionable condition or sprayed with pesticides.

This fact may make you want to wash your berries right away, but hold off! Berries are extremely sensitive to moisture and are prone to mold. When you buy them, check the underside of the package to see if there's any white mold or smashed berries. The smashed ones tend to be the source of mold if left alone.

When you get home and you see condensation gathering on the lid, fold up a paper towel and place it on top of the berries to help catch any excess moisture and store it in the fridge. If the packaging isn't perforated, transfer the berries to a paper towel lined container and loosely cover it with plastic or a lid. If stored properly, berries can last in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days. Wash your berries in a colander just before consuming or using, and pick out any leaves or stems.

Here are some of our favorite berry flavor pairings:

• Blueberry: almond, creme fraiche, lemon, peaches, beef, vanilla, buttermilk
• Blackberry: brandy, creme de cassis, Greek yogurt, corn meal
• Raspberry: goat cheese, white chocolate, kirsch, orange, custard
• Strawberry: champagne, mint, banana, white pepper, soju, balsamic vinegar, triple creme cheeses, pasta filata cheeses (mozzarella, burrata)
• Pomegranate: chicken, arugula, cardamom, ginger, zaatar, pistachio, ricotta, feta

All the Berries

We think raspberries pair perfectly with the lemony kiss of chevre (goat cheese). We like to roll small pats of chevre in sugar and place them on toasted brioche. We brûlée them lightly with a torch so the sugar bubbles and hardens. Then we top it with fresh sliced raspberry.

Taho is a steamed soft tofu breakfast from the Philippines. We enjoy Angela Dimayuga's version topped with brown sugar syrup, strawberries, and kinako (toasted soy bean flour).

Fresh blueberries pop in this kale and roasted peanut salad with a simple lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.

One of our favorite childhood treats is mom's marshmallow whip, a 1:1 ratio of cream cheese to marshmallow fluff. We often dipped berries in it, but we've made it into a decadent brunch toast on walnut bread with mint.

Tips for Stone Fruit

It even happens to us, sometimes a stone fruit isn't ripe enough yet, and it is rock hard. To speed up ripening, place them in a single layer in a paper bag and store at room temperature. To slow down the process, store them in the refrigerator. They will last 1 to 2 weeks in cold storage. Once ripened, stone fruit is extremely perishable.

Looking at any stone fruit, you'll notice it's cleft (it looks like a small butt!). It may appear like a guide to cutting it in half, but it is actually easier to remove the pit if you cut around the whole fruit perpendicular to it. Twist and then, once opened, twist the pit out like a key. If it's too tough to remove, the fruit isn't quite ripe enough, but you can slice again. With the pit facing up, slice along the opposite axis you did previously, and it should be removable.

If you take a bite and the fruit is not too sweet, you can macerate it in a squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of sugar. The same advice applies to berries!

Here are some of our favorite stone fruit flavor pairings:

• Apricot: almonds, ginger, pistachio, anise, robiola cheese, lamb, tea, french toast, saffron
• Cherry: duck, dark chocolate, blue cheeses, rosemary, Luxardo, fennel, pate, Merlot wines
• Peach: cinnamon, oats, pralines, honey, bourbon, chili peppers, vanilla ice cream, gruner vetliner wine
• Plum: coriander, tamarind, port wine, salsa, chicken, orange, cloves, apple cider vinegar, sauternes wine

All the Stone Fruit

We are huge fans of grilling stone fruit. It caramelizes the sugars and turns up the volume on flavor. We've found that pairing grilled stone fruit with something creamy (burrata, as seen below) or herbaceous (mint, as seen above) capitalizes on that special sweet flavor in peaches and plums. You can find this combination in The Four Horsemen Cookbook.

Combining fruit and meat might sound crazy at first, but it's ever-present in your favorite dishes! Korean galbi (grilled marinated pork ribs) are often marinated in grated Asian pear or apple. Is it not natural to think about stone fruit as well? We tried it with pork chops, grated plums, and sansho pepper. The plum took the place of a sweet condiment like mirin, wine, or sugar.

Another savory way to enjoy stone fruit is to pickle cherries and put them on burgers! Our favorite pickle brine for cherries is cinnamon, rosemary, and sugarcane vinegar.

Throwing freshly sliced cherries on a hot honey pizza is also fantastic.

While we may have decried unripe fruit above, unripe peaches and plums are great for making pico de gallo-style salsas. Pick firm fruit, but not rock hard (or you won't be able to remove the pit!). They'll be tart and a bit astringent, but sometimes you need that to balance out other dishes.

In pork meatballs, we hydrate dried cherries with African amarula liquor and finish them with a shaving of dark chocolate. It's a decadent, sweet, and savory appetizer option.

Pickled stone fruit is worth another article, but we couldn't resist including ume onigiri or pickled sour plum rice balls. It's a ready-made Japanese condiment you can buy. Remove the pits and chop the fruit. Stuff them inside rice balls, top with shiso, and wrap nori around them. A wonderful, portable snack.

Let us know in the comments or tag us on Instagram if you try any of these ideas!

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