Peachy Keen
One of the things that I love about summer are peaches. I love the their red and yellow skin tone, the way the smell fills the room, their velvety texture and exotic taste. They are synonymous with summer.
Peaches take me back to childhood when my neighbor had a peach tree. I used to eat the peaches that had fallen in my backyard. Those days certainly made the summers sweeter and the memories just as sweet.
Isn’t that interesting how an experience can send us back to a moment in time. I found out a few things about peaches that may be of interest.
The peach is a member of the rose family. It was first cultivated in China and revered as a symbol of longevity. The image was placed on pottery and received as a gift with great esteem.
Travelers along caravan routes carried the peach seed to Persia before it was cultivated in Europe.
In the early 1600s Spanish explorers brought it to the New World and by the 1700s missionaries had established peaches in California.
The peach is the state fruit of Georgia and South Carolina. It is also the state flower of Delaware.
Marco Polo supposedly saw peaches that weighed several pounds each.
Peaches were fed to hogs and used for making brandy in colonial America.
The U.S. is the world's largest producer of peaches, accounting for about 20% of the total supply. Other major producers are Italy, France, Greece and Spain.
Though these "Persian apples" had their beginning in China, the were developed in Persia and went from there to Europe and then to America with the colonists.
The nectarine and the peach are so similar that there is only one gene that separates the two to make them distinct. The nectarine has one recessive gene - the one with the fuzz.
There are over 700 varieties of peaches. Cling or clingstone peaches have a pit to which the flesh ‘clings’; freestone peaches have a pit from which the flesh is easily pulled away. Some Chinese varieties even resemble the flat hockey pucks.
The peach blossom is Delaware’s official state flower. Johnston, South Carolina is known as the ‘Peach Capital of the World’.
Peaches were mentioned as early as 79 A.D. in literature.
565 is the foundation year of the first peach orchard in Florida.
Most peaches are cultivated by grafting different combinations of rootstocks to scions.
Peaches are sometimes referred to as “stone” fruit due to their pits.
Peaches do not gain flavor with cooking.
What about you? Is there a food that reminds you of childhood or another time?
12 comments:
I love peaches as well as a nice orange.
I love brussel sprouts, cabbage and spinach. As kids we all liked the kinds of foods kids typically hated including liver.
Now I have a kebab addiction.
I once ate so many peaces as a kid that I got sick... But I still love them to this day! Thanks for all those great facts!
My father loved peaches but could not stand to touch them. The fuzzy skin just kind of repelled him. So when we had peaches someone in the family would have to peel it for him. My mother couldn't stand the smell of watermelon. The way she tells it she pigged out on watermelon when she was a kid and actually made herself sick and could never eat, or smell, watermelon again.
Uber,
I never liked liver, fish or spinach. Today I find spinach is tolerable but not fish or liver.
Kebabs - Mmmmmm!
Megan,
That must have been a lot of peaches. The same thing happened to me with peanuts, which I still love.
Grace,
I peel my fruit too. I just don't like the skin on any fruit. I love watermelon and I freeze it with other fruit to make smoothies.
Peachy keen! Summer is a period of fresh fruit and lots of vitamins and minerals to enrich mind, body spirit.
Liara,
It is indeed. My favorite season because of the emergence of summer fruits.
This post reminds me of one of my most loved snack, Peach Custard Danish. And I remember one bakery made that with halved peaches! Now I couldn't find one with that portion of peach again.
The good old days were gone.
As 'fresh' fruit is shipped around the world year-round, people sometimes develop ideas everything is naturally available anytime. The flavor and texture of freshly picked, local fruit varieties stand alone. This is incomparable to fruit grown during the off-season in many places and shipped great distances while still unripe. Environmental situations influence some consumer choices. To allow ego to have everything it wants all the time creates a particular mindset. The consequences concern more than simply choices of seasonal fruit consumption. Ego focus does not nurture expansion of consciousness.
Kriz,
A peach custard danish sounds delicious. Do you also like peach cobbler?
Liara,
I know what you mean about the availability of fruit. Though most fruit is available here all year round from various countries, it doesn't seem to taste the same as it does in the summer.
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