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Peach, Peach

The fruit has yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a skin that is either velvety ( peaches ) or smooth ( nectarines ) in different cultivars. The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars, but is fairly firm in some commercial varieties, especially when green. The single, large seed is red-brown, oval shaped, approximately 1.3-2 cm long, and is surrounded by a wood-like husk. Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes).

Peaches with white flesh typically are very sweet with little acidity, while yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly. Both colours often have some red on their skin. Low-acid white-fleshed peaches are the most popular kinds in China, Japan, and neighbouring Asian countries, while Europeans and North Americans have historically favoured the acidic, yellow-fleshed kinds.

Peaches were mentioned in Chinese writings as far back as the tenth century BC and were a favored fruit of emperors.

The trees themselves can usually tolerate temperatures to around −26 C to −30 C, although the following season's flower buds are usually killed at these temperatures, leading to no crop that summer. Flower bud kill begins to occur between −15 C and −25 C depending on the cultivar (some are more cold-tolerant than others) and the timing of the cold, with the buds becoming less cold tolerant in late winter. Szalay, L., Papp, J., & Szabo, Z. (2000). Evaluation of frost tolerance of peach varieties in artificial freezing tests. In: Geibel, M., Fischer, M., & Fischer, C. (eds.). Eucarpia symposium on Fruit Breeding and Genetics.

In addition, a lot of summer heat is required to mature the crop, with mean temperatures of the hottest month between 20 C and 30 C. Another problematic issue in many peach-growing areas is spring frost. The trees tend to flower fairly early in spring. The blooms often can be damaged or killed by freezes; typically, if temperatures drop below about −4 C, most flowers will be killed. However, if the flowers are not fully open, they can tolerate a couple of degrees colder.

More recently, the United States (where the three largest producing states are California, South Carolina Fort Valley State University College of Agriculture: Peaches , and Georgia Georgia Peach: Georgia Peach Study ), Canada (British Columbia), and Australia (the Riverland region) have also become important; peach growing in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, Canada, was formerly intensive but ended in 2008 when the last fruit cannery in Canada was closed by the proprietors.

Though fuzzy peaches and nectarines are regarded commercially as different fruits, with nectarines often erroneously believed to be a crossbreed between peaches and plums, or a "peach with a plum skin", they belong to the same species as peaches. Several genetic studies have concluded in fact that nectarines are created due to a recessive gene, whereas a fuzzy peach skin is dominant. Oregon State University: peaches and nectarines Nectarines have arisen many times from peach trees, often as bud sports.

It is also possible to grow a tree from either a peach or nectarine seed, but the fruit quality of the resulting tree will be very unpredictable.

Momotaro, one of Japan's most noble and semi-historical heroes, was born from within an enormous peach floating down a stream.

The immortals waited six thousand years before gathering for this magnificent feast; the peach tree put forth leaves once every thousand years and it required another three thousand years for the fruit to ripen. Ivory statues depicting Xi Wangmu's attendants often held three peaches.

Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Chinese Eight Immortals, is often depicted carrying a Peach of Immortality. The peach blossoms are highly prized in Chinese culture.

Source: Wikipedia > Peach