Nashville's The Peach Truck Publishes Its First Cookbook

Summer isn't that far off, which means it's almost time to stand in line, waiting to buy tree-fresh peaches rolled up in a paper bag from The Peach Truck.

Jessica and Stephen Rose own the truck, which appears in spots all over town and has turned into a regional obsession. They'll publish their first book The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach via Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint on June 25.

The book has ideas for what to do with peaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner — in case simply eating the fruit, juice dripping from your chin as you stand in the farmers' market in Shelby Park, isn't enough for you anymore. You'll find recipes inside from some of the city's favorite peach-loving chefs, including Sean Brock, Lisa Donovan and Tandy Wilson, as well as the lowdown on Burger Up’s Peach Truck Margarita. Also included are tips from the pros on peach care and picking. (Apples and bananas can handle longer travel times and a bit of abuse — say, being stored on a truck and then in a cooler — but peaches suffer from the transition.) There's also a section on figuring out which peach variety is best for you.

The Roses started their business in 2012, bringing peaches straight to Nashvillians from a farm in Stephen's native Georgia in The Peach Truck's namesake 1964 Jeep Gladiator. Now their seasonal peach tour has expanded to eight states, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida and Michigan, as well as a peach delivery subscription and other products sold online. 

The 288-page book has a list price of $28. If you preorder via Amazon through The Peach Truck's website, you can forward your receipt and get five bonus recipes. You can also keep it local by getting your copy from Parnassus Books or East Nashville's The Bookshop.