These brilliant yellow fruits are harvested in May-June and are hard to locate outside of a farmer's market or fruit stand.
Soft and delicious, they're hard to locate. They bruise easily and are hard to transport fresh, but they make great jams and jellies.
If you can find a local grower, purchase some peaches and eat them to the pit.
Freestone's name is probably obvious. This peach separates flesh and pit. This peach's stone virtually falls off when halved.
Freestone's harder flesh makes it more frequently available as fresh fruit in supermarkets and the most popular raw peach. Freestone, however bigger and harder, isn't perfect.
Freestone peaches are perfect for making pies. Peaches continue to ripen after being plucked, so keep them out for a few days.
Freestone has a long harvest period, from May to October, making them more accessible.
The semi-freestone peach (sometimes called semi-clingstone) is a hybrid. Semi-freestone peach flesh isn't fully connected to the pit.
Nectarines are commonly used as a peach replacement since they are semi-freestone.
Red Haven peaches are semi-freestone. Leafy Place describes Red Haven's lovely golden flesh as clingstone-like but freestone-firm.
The "traditional" Red Haven peach can be eaten fresh, in fruit salads, or canned. Semi-freestones contain the greatest attributes of both sister peaches, so you can't go wrong with them.