Peaches

I love peaches. Delicate, yummy white peaches and hearty yummy yellow peaches alike - peaches are just delightful.

Picking out just the right peach from a grocery store or farmer's market often has folks a little stumped. Here are a few tips:

General selection tips - don't just look for the pink ones! This dominant color has to do with variety, not ripeness. You'll want to go for the peach with a darker undertone of yellow or cream. Smell the peach - does it smell peachy? The unripened peaches have no distinguishable scent.

Know when you're planning on eating your peaches.

In the next half hour:
-look for the peach with the most give, soft and supple to the touch, without mold, dark bruises, or puncture wounds. The mushier, the more juicy!

In the next two days:
- still feel for some give.

In the next week:
- go for the harder ones - but never a rock!

*Always be sure to store your peaches in a paper bag to ripen. They will not only rot in plastic!*
Almost-ripe peaches can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week and a half. Much longer than that, and you'll be sad you wasted such a beautiful fruit.

----------------- peach memories ---------------------------------------------------
One of my favorite fruit trees growing up was our "Springtime" peach tree. Actually, it was another peach tree entirely, but my father grafted a branch of the white-fruited "Springtime" variety onto an otherwise dull hum-drum average peach.

Unfortunately several years ago, a combination of poor watering and an attack of pests brought the demise of my favorite peach tree. I cried long and hard the day my father ripped it out of the ground. The orchard portion of our backyard has never looked quite the same since then, even though we have filled the area with other fun peaches and nectarines. I maintain the hope that one day we'll find a "Springtime" peach in a nursery catalog. Or maybe we'll make a friend who happens to have a tree, and we can graft it to our thriving home-bred white-skinned "Le Duce" peach tree.


Some pretty photos of peaches:






Photos come from these sites:

http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln46/aln46gifs/luna1.jpg
http://www.agrimaxintl.com/images/full_size_pic/white_flesh_Peach.jpg


Here are some handy websites for great tips on Peach tree care and maintenance:
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/fruit/peach.html
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/C877.htm

Here is a site that will tell you all about selecting the perfect peach from your grocery store or Farmer's Market:
http://www.greenwoodnursery.com/page.cfm/5667