Right now I am eating a delicious South Carolina peach, purchased at Joe's Produce Market. Joe's is the only place in Columbia where we'll buy peaches. All the grocery stores here seem to stock only Mac's Pride peaches, which are also from South Carolina but very different from the fruit I'm eating.

Personally, I don't see what Mac is so proud of. His peaches are hard as rocks and taste like cardboard. Plus, they put a chemical de-fuzzing agent on them to make them smoother. I hear that the harder peaches ship better, and picking them green and ripening them in a ripening room allows groceries to better manage their inventory (plus it keeps my friend Todd, who sells ripening systems, employed).

But as a peach-eater, all I care about is taste, which is why we'll keep buying our peaches at Joe's for the foreseeable future.

By the way - Joe is looking to sell his market and retire. Anyone looking to get into the produce business?