Despite a plethora of peaches at Monticello, American farmers did not begin commercial production until the 19th century in Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, and finally Virginia. As of 2010, peaches are commercially produced in 28 states. The top four states in peach production are California (with 65 percent of production), South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey. California is a significant producer of both fresh and processed peaches, while South Carolina and Georgia mainly produce fresh peaches. Today, peaches are the second-largest commercial fruit crop in the States, second only to apples.

Spicing up peaches with chile peppers became popular during the chile pepper craze that gained momentum after the launching of Chile Pepper magazine in 1987 and the subsequent cookbooks by Nancy Gerlach and myself that popularized chiles into mainstream America. During the publicity that surrounded the first superhot chile, the habanero in the early '90s, cooks realized that the chinense species with the floral and fruity overtones of its pods, were the perfect peppers to complement fruits, as you will see below. This collection of recipes is taken from my archives.