Stone fruit season is here. We're serving up plums, apricots, nectarines, and local cherries here. This first week of summer our stone fruit salads have been especially sweet thanks in part to the selection at Wegmans grocery store in Bethlehem, PA.

We're not sure if we should call this smart science or smart marketing. At Wegmans, each kind of fruit is marked with its BRIX level and the number of days until it will be ripe. "Very loosely defined ... the BRIX level in fruits tells us how sweet the fruit is ...," says this sign. Wegmans ripening bags are available for fruit that hasn't yet reached its peak.

Wegmans says these apricots won't be ready for a day or two ...

... but these (expensive) Black Velvet Apricots are ripe and ready for tonight's stone fruit salsa.

We also appreciate Wegmans local fruit offerings, including these Golden Cherries from nearby Kachline Farms. (Here's a link to other Wegmans local suppliers here in Pennsylvania.)

If you have more stories of stone fruit or have seen a BRIX in action in your market, please comment here.