I don't know how to break this to Georgia, the supposed peach tree state. And to my friends in Bedford, NY that think New York peaches are 'all that'. They are going to be devastated.

But California ranks first in the U.S. in the production of peaches, producing 71% of the total U.S. crop. We produce nearly 100% of the peaches destined for the can, and an impressive 50% of the fresh market peaches. These facts are facts. And from these facts we can deduce that California must grow some pretty damn good peaches. Case closed.

Peaches are at the very height of perfection right now in California, so I ran down the hill to the Hollywood Farmers Market and picked a peck of them for this week's Market Matters post.

My Kumquacello is done. Fini. Terminé. Complet.

We had another tasting and again it did not fare well with my friends. I served it at the end of a small dinner party and I was the only person who liked it just as it was. 

It might suffer from the ugly child syndrome. Maybe I am like one of those parents who show you a picture of their still puckered up infant, or their gangly teen-ager and say 'isn't he adorable?"

"Yeah, a real heartbreaker", is always my safe answer.

Well maybe my kumquacello is some version of a "heartbreakingly" endearing offspring. Of course I love it, because I just spent 8 weeks making it! But it seems nobody else can embrace its charms.

But honestly. I think it's delicious. I really do. So we will never really know the answer. It's probably my stunningly sophisticated palate. It gets me every time...

But, you should have heard some of the remarks. Mostly non-committal. But I am not stupid. I can read between the lines. Even though people's "suggestions" about what I could do with my kumquacello made me mad, they did get me thinking.