Tomato Peach Salad with Basil

Tomato Peach Salad is a celebration of, obviously, tomatoes and peaches, two delicious fruits that come to harvest at the same time. It made sense to combine sun ripened tomatoes and juicy peaches in a salad.

Peach Season is Here

The time of year to get fresh local peaches is now. We can buy imported peaches all year, but there is nothing like a tree ripened, local peach, a symbol of summer. Other than just gobbling them up fresh, I like to find different ways to use peaches while they are in season.

These Peach Pecan Cinnamon Buns are a delicious sweet treat, and Spiced Rum Grilled Peaches are a simple, yet elegant dessert. Peaches are also delicious in savory recipes, too, like these Peach Whisky Chicken Kebabs, or Thai Peach Chicken.

Peach Varieties

Globally, there are over 2000 varieties of peaches, 300 of them in North America.  However, all of them fall into one of three classifications. They are:

Clingstone

As the name implies, clingstone peaches have flesh that clings to the pit. They also have high sugar content and soft flesh, so they are perfect for fresh eating out of hand, or for desserts.

Freestone

Again, as the name implies, freestone peaches have a firmer flesh that easily separates from the pit, so these peaches are a great choice for canning, preserving, baking, and recipes because they are so easy to work with.

Semi-Freestone

Semi-Freestone peaches are a hybrid of clingstone and freestones, combining the sweetness of the clingstone with a fruit that easily separates from the pit.

Tomatoes & Peaches in a Salad

For this tomato peach salad, I used freestone peaches. Although you can use any peach variety, I like that the peach slices, while sweet, are also slightly tart, and they hold their shape well. They are delicious combined with acidic tomatoes, red onion, and fragrant basil.

Which tomatoes to use in a tomato peach salad

I used grape tomatoes, which are the first ones to ripen in our garden, but any tomato variety will be delicious, just as long as the tomatoes are fresh, fully ripened and juicy. Heirloom tomatoes, when they ripen, would be perfect.

To Peel the Peaches or not?

There is no need to peel the peaches for this recipe unless you really dislike peach fuzz, which some people do. In which case, in the name of simplicity, you may want to use nectarines instead, which are simply peaches without the fuzz.

If your peaches are extra fuzzy, which some are, you can de-fuzz them by running them underwater and giving them a good rub.

Recipe