There are thousands of varieties of stone fruit, which are defined as any fleshy fruit with a large stone-like pit in the middle. Cherries, peaches, plums, pluots (those cool yellow and purple plum-like fruits), apricots and nectarines are all stone fruits, and now is the perfect time to enjoy them.

Stone fruits are in abundance at every farmer’s market, with their panorama of colorful skins just beckoning for you to reach out and grab them. They’re crowding the aisle of your supermarket and they’re piled high at your local fruit stands on the corner. If you want to purchase stone fruit that is ripe and ready to eat, look for fruits that yield to gentle pressure and that are slightly soft at the tip. Avoid fruit that is excessively hard because it was probably picked immaturely and may not even develop tasty flesh. Once stone fruit is ripe, it can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

These summertime gems are both healthy and delicious. They’re full of vitamin C and dietary fiber. The whole range of fruits are fabulous fresh—nothing quite captures summer like biting into a ripe peach, the juice dripping down your chin and running onto your fingers so that you want to lick it off to make sure you get every last drop—and they make the perfect summer centerpiece when baked into a sweet-tart dessert.

I love to make a simple Summer Fruit Crostada. A crostada is a free-form tart, which means you don’t need to use a pie pan. It has a natural, homemade look and taste. The crust is easily made in the bowl of a food processor and it freezes well. The simple ingredients in this crostada really accent the fruit and will likely make it one of your favorite go-to dessert recipes.

It quickly became a hit with two fun-loving college-bound sisters who took cooking classes with me last summer. Their mother wanted to make sure her daughters wouldn’t go hungry for the next four years, and so, in the spirit of teaching her girls to fish, she decided to give them the long-lasting gift of cooking lessons.

The girls got very excited about their newfound skills and decided to throw a dinner party for their friends one evening, featuring all the food they prepared during our lesson. The final dish we worked on was dessert. The sisters had never fathomed the idea of creating anything as fancy-sounding as a crostada—they had never even heard the word before! It just so happened that the lesson was running very late, so after I taught them how to make the dough, roll it out and slice the fruit, I left them to fend for themselves.

I got a fantastic phone call the next day—the girls were so proud of themselves! They pulled the crostada out of the oven and couldn’t believe their eyes. It was the most beautiful, most delicious fruit tart they had every seen or tasted, and they had wowed their guests. I hope you too get to enjoy the delights of summer fruit while they last, because as soon as fall is upon us, that sweet, sticky juice running down your chin will be nothing but a memory!