The Low Key Sweet Treat of Southern Illinois

When I was younger, I had family in Kentucky that had a random peach tree in their backyard. To this day one sniff of a ripe peach and I am back in that yard as a grade schooler and in my aunt’s kitchen with the gathered sweetness.

Peachy Memories from the past (Kentucky - 1970s)

Fresh peaches are a wonderful thing, and we are blessed in Illinois to have a regional deliciousness if only for a season. Calhoun peaches are so juicy, sweet and bursting with flavor that once you get a taste for them, they are the only peaches you want.

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Other places around the country like to flex on their particular peaches, Georgia - the peach state loves to claim the prize as peach king. California produces more, and Texas and South Carolina also grow lots of them, plus Colorado has a special regional peach treat too, and that’s nice. Let them boast and posture. In Illinois we’ll just sit back and watch the bravado while we quietly enjoy the delicious fruit of Calhoun County.

The fertile ground between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers makes amazing peaches

You can find these beauties at roadside stands and farmers markets for most of the summer in Illinois and into the early weeks of fall. If you haven’t partaken of Calhoun peaches, make a point to seek them out. Then when you find yourself in a conversation about fresh peaches, and people from the deep south and California -and Colorado start talking big. You can join in the conversation, or just know that something special grows in Calhoun County in between the Illinois and Mississippi river.