A Guide to Harvesting Stone Fruit in Pennsylvania

Enjoy these jewels of summertime when they’re at their ripest and juiciest with our expert tips.

 

Across Pennsylvania, our harvests of stone fruit—including cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines—are quickly ripening all around us, meaning it’ll soon be time to indulge in these delectable summertime offerings. However, to properly enjoy these gifts of nature, you’ll need more than just a set of hands and a mouth; a little know-how on properly picking and preserving stone fruits is essential for getting the most out of your harvest this season. Luckily, there are a few simple tips and tricks that can help take the guesswork out of these tricky tasks. Here’s our stone fruit harvesting timeline, along with a few of our favorite tips and strategies for picking and preserving your harvest at its peak ripeness! 

 

What is a Stone Fruit?

Simply put, a “stone fruit” is a fleshy fruit with a pit in its center, which contains the fruit’s lone seed. Common examples of stone fruit include cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines. In contrast, apples, pears, and berries are not stone fruits, as they do not have single pits but rather many small seeds in the core or distributed throughout their flesh.   

 

When to Harvest Stone Fruit in Southeast Pennsylvania  

Here’s a handy timeline to help you prepare for the harvest season this summer. Keep in mind that harvest times may vary some years, depending on the weather:

• Cherries: mid-June to late July 
• Apricots: early July to late July 
• Peaches: mid-July to mid-September 
• Plums: mid-August to late September
• Nectarines: mid-August to late September 

It’s also a good practice to record your harvest times in your garden journal, so you can compare seasonal events from year-to-year and get to know your trees over time.  

 

How Do You Know When Stone Fruit is Ripe 

For optimum taste and texture, it’s best to pick your stone fruits at their peak ripeness. Here are some specific ripeness indicators to look for in a few common stone fruits: 

• Cherries: Cherries are at their peak ripeness when they’re plump and sweet-smelling, and their stems easily pull off from the tree. 

• Apricots: When ripe, apricots turn a golden-orange color, have a sweet scent, and have a soft, springy texture when squeezed. If they’re firm and green, they’re still a bit too young. 

• Peaches: The flesh of ripe peaches will give slightly when squeezed. If it feels hard, it’s not ready yet. Remember that peaches bruise easily, so be gentle when testing their ripeness. 

• Plums: Ripe plums change from green to purple, red, black, or blue, depending on the variety. Greengage plums stay green but will develop yellow overtones as they ripen. The flesh of ripe plums is also slightly soft to the touch and has a sweet scent.

• Nectarines: The skin of ripe nectarines gives slightly when you press it, and they’ll have an orange, red, and yellow color without any hints of green. 

 

Tips for Harvesting Your Stone Fruit 

Once your stone fruit is ripe, it’s time to harvest! However, you don’t want to run around your backyard just yanking fruit off your trees. Here are a few picking tips and techniques to help you get as much as possible out of your fruit trees this year and limit wastage:

• Twist and Pull: Ripe stone fruit should come off quite easily, so simply twist and pull it off the branch to prevent damage.

• Use Your Palm: When you harvest soft fruit like peaches and apricots, grab them using the whole of your palm. This will help prevent bruising or squishing your harvest. 

• Plan Ahead: Peaches, apricots, and plums don’t keep long after harvest, so plant to pick them when you also have time to prepare them for storage.

• Harvest in Stages: Stone fruit ripens at different times, so plan to harvest them on multiple days throughout the season.

• Seasonal Pruning: Prune your fruit trees in late winter and early spring to make their shape and height easier to harvest next season. 

 

How Can I Preserve My Pennsylvania Stone Fruit Harvest?

One of the major difficulties with backyard fruit trees is that they’re so darn productive. When you have buckets of cherries, peaches, and apricots ready at once, it’s hard to know how to use it all without waste. Fortunately, there are many ways to preserve these summertime gifts so you can keep your entire harvest and enjoy it throughout the rest of the year. Here are some of our favorites: 

• Freeze Them: All stone fruits can be frozen without any extra preparation. Just slice them, remove the stones, and place them in a freezer-safe bag or container, and they’ll last in your freezer for up to six months! Take them out as needed, and enjoy them in smoothies and desserts or on top of pancakes, waffles, or breakfast cereals.

• Make Jam: There are few treats as tasty or as easy to make as peach, plum, apricot, and cherry jams. If you’re not fond of sugar, you can also turn your stone fruits into lovely salsas and chutneys.  
• Can Them: Home canning is not as common these days as it used to be, but it’s still a useful skill to master if you have lots of fruit trees to harvest. One weekend of work ensures none of your harvest goes to waste and gives you an entire winter’s supply of delicious canned fruit!
• Make Sauce: making sauce is the lazy way to preserve your stone fruit and enjoy it for the fall and winter. Simply boil your fruit down with water, a bit of sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a few other spices, blend it up, and freeze it for future use.  
• Make Pies: If we’re talking about stone fruit, we have to talk about fruit pies. While this is admittedly more of a way to enjoy your stone fruit rather than preserve them, you can freeze your pies for future use. Giving your homemade pies to friends and family is also a great way to share the bounty of your stone fruit harvest! 

For more advice on harvesting stone fruit, or to discover your next favorite fruit tree, stop by our independent garden center in Glenside, PA, today!