When the weather heats up, nothing beats a sweet, juicy piece of sun-ripened fruit. This week we are biting into 10 summer fruit flavors with deep American roots. Some grew wild here for thousands of years, some are immigrants that changed our lives, and others were dreamed up by clever American farmers. Together, these summer fruit flavors pack a meaningful punch of sunshine and history in every bite.
America is turning 250, and we are celebrating all year long with flavor! In our 250 American Heritage Flavors series, we are exploring 250 tastes that shaped the American table, 10 at a time. Catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you missed them.
10 All-American Summer Fruit Flavors
From sandy dunes to mountain orchards, these summer fruit flavors tell the story of the American season.
Muscadine Grape
Move over, Vitis Vinifera: the muscadine is a grape with more than American root stock. The Muscadine grows wild across the warm, sunny Southeast and was the very first grape farmed in what is now the United States, though Native peoples were drying and eating muscadines long before settlers arrived. Its best-known kind is the bronze scuppernong, which became North Carolina’s official state fruit in 2001. One legendary scuppernong vine on Roanoke Island, called the “Mother Vine,” is believed to be more than 400 years old!
Elberta Peach
The Elberta peach helped make Georgia famous as the Peach State. In the 1870s, a Georgia farmer named Samuel Rumph grew a sweet, golden peach and named it after his wife, Clara Elberta. As the city of Marshallville, Georgia, tells it, Rumph also invented a way to pack peaches with ice so they could travel by train all the way to New York without spoiling. That clever idea helped turn the peach into a summer favorite across the whole country.
Bing Cherry
The dark, sweet Bing cherry is the most popular sweet cherry in America. It was created in 1875 in Oregon by an orchard grower named Seth Lewelling. He named the cherry to honor his skilled orchard foreman, a Chinese immigrant named Ah Bing. Washington State University shares that these firm, deep-red cherries were tough enough to ship far away, which is how they became a treat from coast to coast.
Rainier Cherry
The golden Rainier cherry is like sunshine in fruit form, with a rosy blush and a honey-sweet taste. It was born at Washington State University in 1952, when a scientist named Harold Fogle crossed a Bing cherry with another kind called a Van. He named it after Mount Rainier, the tall, snowy peak in Washington. These cherries are so delicate and thin-skinned that a summer rainstorm can crack them, which is one reason they cost more. Discover our natural cherry flavor.
Blenheim Apricot
The Blenheim apricot is an heirloom treasure with a rich, tangy-sweet flavor that many people call the best of any apricot. It arrived in California in the 1880s and, according to Foodwise, soon filled the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley, once nicknamed the Valley of Heart’s Delight. Today this old-fashioned apricot is rare, because it bruises easily and does not ship well, so a ripe one is a special summer prize.
Plumcot
A plumcot is exactly what it sounds like: half plum and half apricot. Long ago, most people thought you could not cross those two fruits at all. Then a famous California plant breeder named Luther Burbank proved them wrong in the late 1800s, and he even gave the plumcot its name. The Luther Burbank Home and Gardens notes that he introduced more than 100 kinds of plums and plumcots in his lifetime!
Pawpaw
Have you ever tasted a fruit that grows wild in American woods and tastes like banana, mango, and custard all at once? That is the pawpaw, the largest edible fruit native to North America. Ohio State University experts note that George Washington enjoyed them and that the explorers Lewis and Clark ate them on their long journey west. You will almost never spot a pawpaw in a store, though, because the fruit is soft and spoils quickly after picking.
American Plum
The American plum, also called the wild plum, has grown across this land since long before farms existed. According to Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources, it bursts into sweet-smelling white flowers in early spring and forms wild thickets along fields and roads. Native peoples and early settlers gathered its small red fruits to eat fresh and to cook into jelly and jam. Its high natural pectin makes the American plum perfect for preserves.
Beach Plum
The beach plum is a tough little fruit that grows right on the sandy dunes of the Atlantic coast, from Maine down to Maryland. The USDA explains that this native shrub can handle salty ocean spray in spots where almost nothing else will grow. Its plums are very tart when raw, but they make a tasty jelly that is a local specialty in Cape Cod and New England shoreline communities. Beachgoers have been picking beach plums for hundreds of years.
Mayhaw
Last but not least is the mayhaw, a native fruit of the swampy woodlands of the Deep South. It is a kind of hawthorn, and its name comes from the fact that its little red fruit ripens in May. The LSU AgCenter explains that mayhaw jelly is a true Southern delicacy, prized at farm stands and food festivals across Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas. Because the trees grow in wet bottomlands, people sometimes harvest mayhaws by scooping the fallen fruit from the water’s surface.
Bringing Summer Fruit Flavors to Your Next Product
From wild woodland pawpaws to sun-ripened peaches, these summer fruit flavors show off the sweet side of American history. Each one has a story rooted in a special place and time.
Why We Love These Summer Fruit Flavors
Every one of these summer fruit flavors is a little taste of American summer, past and present. That is the heart of our 250 American Heritage Flavors series: celebrating the tastes that made us who we are.
At Blue Pacific Flavors, we help food and drink makers capture these juicy, sun-ripe tastes in brand new products. Dreaming up a peach tea, a cherry soda, or a watermelon cooler? Explore our World of Flavor, start with our guide to the 7 Essential Steps in Beverage Development, or request a sample today. And come back for Part 5, where we pick 10 more flavors with deep American roots.
Looking to create something special? It’s time to enjoy summer fruit flavors all year long!
Interested in summer fruit flavors? Request a sample!
