How To Eat A Peach

Laura Avery

Mirror contributing writer

   Are you suffering from information overload about the proper method of selecting, storing, preparing and consuming fresh food? Is knowledge more important than experience? Thanks to a great deal of informed food reporting which has been avidly absorbed by an increasingly well-educated food buying public, many Market customers are now familiar with Rose Finn potatoes, Cavolo Nero (the exootic "black" or "dinosaur" -– well, you already know –- kale) and a whole host of tender, tasty heirloom tomatoes. Consumers are becoming connoisseurs who are eager to try out new things that they have been reading about, or which the farmers at urban markets throughout the state have experimentally grown and encourage them to buy or taste.
   Early June marks the beginning of the serious stone fruit –- peach, apricot and nectarine –- harvest season. Summer is just around the corner, the season of late frosts, rains and freak hail storms is over, daytime temperatures in the northern San Joaquin valley are hovering around 105 degrees, and tree fruit is ripening by the hour. Farmers will pick the ripest fruit first, often passing through an orchard daily to pull off fruit that is the right color and consistency for consumption by market customers. California Tree Fruit Agreement, a commodity commission set up and funded by farmers, has spent much time and money over the years doing market research on what consumers look for in stone fruit. In the case of peaches and nectarines, it turns out, customers prefer a red color. For some reason, the color red equates with ripeness, so many varieties of fruit are bred to develop a red color. Blush or no blush, what farmers are looking for is the shade of "background color" on each piece of fruit. Either by eye or armed with a bundle of color indicators that resemble those paint chip samples from the hardware store, farmers assess the ripeness of their fruit by the color behind the red, which is most pronounced at the stem end. This background color should be yellow rather than green, and the color samples contain about five different shades of yellow. Many farmers discuss background color with their customers, some of who are slightly reluctant to buy fruit that looks a little smaller than the stuff they see in grocery stores.
   California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) publishes an annual tree fruit report which lists seasonality and expected yield of each variety of peach, plum and nectarine in California. Apricots are not included in CTFA. Astonishingly, CTFA lists 200 varieties of peaches, 200 varieties of plums and 175 varieties of nectarines under harvest each year for the past several years. Many of these varieties are commercially packed and shipped to retail outlets under the label "variety unknown," which seems to be a sad loss of biodiversity as far as consumer awareness goes. Farmers at the markets can tell you what you are buying, however, and while they grow some mainstream commercial varieties such as rose diamond nectarines, spring lady peaches and the soon forthcoming red beauty plums, many more varieties are experimental, unnamed or overlooked by commercial buyers. 
   Keeping in mind the sheer numbers of stone fruit varieties and the rapidity with which one variety gives way to another, it is important to taste everything and to ask farmers for recommendations. They will readily tell you if a variety will be better next week or if a new experimental variety deserves your attention. One farmer swears that he has a nectarine that tastes like a mango. Another has nicknamed his apricot the "dream realization" apricot because of its unearthly flavor. With all stone fruit, storage is important for maintaining maximum flavor and texture, and CTFA research has shown that the ideal storage temperature is between 50 and 70 degrees Farenheit. Excessive chilling causes condensation on the skin and usually results in mealy flesh, so cool, dry shelf conditions are ideal. 
   There are several stone fruit farmers to buy from at each market each week. This is an important time of year for them, since many of them only come to market one season a year with their carefully tended crop. Prices range from anywhere between $1.25 and $2.50 per pound, which is below the retail price quoted May 28th of $1.99 to $2.69 per pound. When in doubt as to what to do with all that ripe stone fruit, try throwing some on the grill. Grilled peaches taste remarkably like peach cobbler. 
   How do you eat a peach? Grab a paper towel and take a big bite.