For those of us who love to work with seasonal fresh produce in the kitchen, summer is a season-long holiday. There’s a seemingly endless array of colors and flavors to be found this time of year. Among the highlights? Stone fruits.

From fuzzy golden peaches to scarlet sweet-tart plums, fragrant golden apricots to numerous stone fruit hybrids — apriums, pluots, plumcots and more — these fruits find their way into cobblers and ice creams, slowly simmered into barbecue sauces or served alongside roasts, stirred into sangrias and flavoring Bellinis. And sometimes, when the fruit is perfectly ripe, there is nothing better than enjoying it out of hand, alongside a stack of napkins to sop up all the juicy goodness.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the highlights of the season, what to look for at the markets and farms, how to store, and various ways to enjoy your haul.