Grilled Nectarines

The fruits of summer are great to cook with. When we get overloaded with nectarines, I like to use my grill to add a touch of caramelized flavor. And as our own Erin points out, "This is the perfect way to use nectarines when you don't think they are juicy enough yet."

These gently cooked fruits make a luscious side to pork chops or a sweet dessert topping.

Grilling stone fruits couldn't be easier. All you need to add is a little oil to prevent the skins from sticking to the grill grates.

Be sure to use semi-firm nectarines. Very ripe fruit will fall apart on the grill.

I recommend trying this with peaches and plums, too.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Grilled Nectarines

6 to 8 semi-firm, yellow flesh nectarines
1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
Vanilla ice cream or pound cake (or any other dessert that needs a topping)

Heat your gas grill to medium. Prepare charcoal grill as you normally would.

Wash and dry nectarines. Cut each fruit in half and remove the pits. Place nectarine halves in bowl and toss with oil to coat fruit.

Put nectarines skin-side down on heated grill and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Flip fruit and cook for another 5 minutes, or until fruit is soft.

Remove nectarines from grill and let cool in a bowl or on a deep plate to catch any juices. As the fruit cools, the juices will form a sweet, syrupy sauce.

Slide skins off nectarines and slice or dice fruit. Combine cut fruit with any juice from bowl and use as a dessert topping. Refrigerate any leftovers to use tomorrow!

Peaches vs. Nectarines

I was at the grocery store recently, and I ran into a conundrum. There were two bins of sunset-orange fruit in front of me: peaches in one and nectarines in the other. Both were on sale for the same price. Both were high quality and seasonal. Initially I gravitated toward the peaches, but as I was loading them into my basket, another shopper started choosing nectarines.

And then it hit me. What in tarnation was the difference between a peach and a nectarine? I know peaches are fuzzy, but besides that why was I choosing a peach over a nectarine when I didn't know which I preferred? So I did the only logical thing I could think of; I asked the other shopper.


"Excuse me," I interrupted the wise-looking woman as she added another nectarine to her growing pile. "Can you tell me the difference between a peach and a nectarine?"


She furrowed her brow in thought. "That's a good question. I think that peaches can be a bit more mealy. And they're more finicky; you have to eat them at exactly the right time. Nectarines are more forgiving."


Well that was a darn good answer. I promptly put my peaches back in the bin and snagged a few nectarines.

I think that helpful gal in the produce aisle was right. I let my nectarines get a smidge too ripe, but they were totally forgiving. They weren't mealy like the smidge-too-ripe peaches I'd eaten the week before. 


Since I can't leave well enough alone, I did some very official interweb research on the fruits in question. (What I mean, of course, is that I Googled it. It wasn't very serious at all.) This is what I learned:


According to wiki.answers, peaches and nectarines are both part of the prunus family, like plums. "Peaches have a certain dominant gene and a certain recessive one. When the dominant gene is prominent, the fruit is called a peach; when the recessive gene is prominent, it is called a nectarine. Physically, peaches are larger than nectarines; have a larger, rounder stone (pit); and have a fuzzy outer skin. Nectarines are smaller, with a smaller and flatter stone, and have a smooth outer skin. Nectarines are also sweeter in taste than peaches."


So there you have it, folks. Go forth and make educated fruit choices!