10 Summer Fruits You Absolutely Have to Eat While They're In Season

If you're lucky enough to have a wild blackberry patch you know about, then you've probably spent time gathering far more than you need. These sweet treats are at their best when they practically fall off the stem, and they're best when used in the simplest dishes, like this light tart.

Find them: Late summer in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, all summer in the Midwest, South, and in California.

Try them in Blackberry Tart.

If you asked fifty folks to name the most iconic summer fruit, it's a sure bet 49 would say watermelon. (There's always that one guy.) One of our favorite ways to eat it is sliced and marinated in lime and mint, mojito-style.

Find them: Beginning in June in the Midwest and South, July on the West Coast, and late summer in the Northeast.

Try it in Mojito Watermelon.

Fresh-picked strawberries are similar to fresh tomatoes in that the ones you buy in season are just incomparably better than the hard-as-a-rock out-of-season stuff you find at the supermarket. It's worth growing your own strawberries just to taste how good they can be.

Find them: Late spring to mid-summer in the South, June and July in the Northeast, May-August in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and nearly year-round in California.

Try them in Strawberry-Almond Crumble Pie.

Sure, there's that one state that's particularly known for its peaches—and they're particularly good—but as with all fruit, the fresher the better. So get 'em local wherever you live. Pick the ripest, juiciest ones you can, and caramelize a batch onto this upside-down cake.

Find them: Beginning July in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast, Late May in the South, June in the Midwest, and May-October in California.

Try them in Peach Upside-Down Cake.

If you start seeing scratches all up and down our arms then you know it's raspberry-picking season. We love to pair these delicate, tart little berries with a small scoop of extra dark chocolate ice cream, or with almonds, oats, and butter, in these crumb bars.

Find them: All summer in the South, beginning July in the Northeast, Beginning June in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and as early as April in California.

Try them in Raspberry Crumb Bars.

Fresh figs are one of nature's most elusive and delicious foods, and one of our favorite things about late summer. At least once a year, we load up on the ripest bunch we can find, slice them up, drizzle them with honey and other toppings, then invite some friends over. If there's enough left over, we bake the rest into a rich fig crostata.

Find them: July-September in the South, July and August in the Pacific Northwest, August in the Midwest, and beginning June in California. (Not easily available locally in the Northeast.)

Try them with Goat cheese, honey, and prosciutto, or in a Fresh Fig Crostata.

Stone fruit of all sorts are delicious, of course, but apricots are just in a league all their own. Fresh apricot season always has us breaking out our canning equipment to make this divine jam.

Find them: March to June in California, June, July, and August in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

Try them in Apricot-Lavender Jam.

Sure, you can always find the seedless kind at the store, and they're fine. But for those who know to look, there are so many more: Concord grapes in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, Muscadines in the South, Moon Drops and Sweet Jubilees from California. Eat 'em like you would cherries, spitting out the seeds. Or slice and deseed them, and bake them up in this deliriously good slab pie.

Find them: Beginning midsummer in the South and Midwest, Late summer in the Northeast, All summer and fall in California, and only beginning in fall in the Pacific Northwest.

Try them in Grape Slab Pie.