Let’s talk peaches – shall we? Peaches are… Wait, what? This is a nectarine? Yeah, but it’s also a peach! It’s a peach without fuzz!
To uncover that secret, we have to find out: Peach – How Does it Grow? We’ve come to historic Mullica Hill, in the southern farmlands of New Jersey. Peach farmer Tom Holtzhauser traces his family roots here to 1771.
And they thrived in New Jersey, which still today is a proud peach pioneer. You know these flat donut peaches: so-called because when you pop the pit out, they look like a doughnut! These first hit the market in the late 70s, thanks to a variety called Saturn, which was developed right here in New Jersey.
And even though flat peaches had been grown for centuries, the resilient yet super-sweet Saturn was the one that kicked off the commercial demand for donut peaches around the world. The orchards here are full of beautiful varieties of white and yellow peaches, with names like “Flamin’ Fury,” “July Rose,” and “Glen Glo” – just some of the thousands of peaches that exist.
But at this farm, there are no nectarines… Farmer Tom says he does not want the headache or expense of growing that fragile beauty… It all comes down to the fuzz. What is the point of this stuff? Is it there just to eat your lips? Is it there just to give you haptodysphoria? Yep – there’s a name for peach fuzz phobia…
No, my friends – the fuzz is an important protective coating that guards against insects, rot, wind, and fungus… it even helps lock in the peaches’ moisture. Without the fuzz, nectarines are more prone to all of these things, which means that farmers have to spend more time and money to care for them. (Tom): My dad used to say “a peach tree itself looks for an excuse to die”…
Now check this out – see how much fuzz is on that peach! You’ll rarely see it like that in the stores because packing houses have special equipment that brushes down the fuzz. Why? Because we eat with our eyes first! Some people see fuzz and think of mold… Less fuzz also means the enticing colors of the peach come through.
A peach tree can be productive for 20 to 25 years. So each year, Tom digs up the old and plants new trees purchased from a nursery. It’ll take them roughly six years before they bear a substantial amount of fruit. The life of a peach begins surprisingly in the winter. Peach trees need more than 500 hours of chill time.
The cold stimulates fruit growth later in the year. That’s why peach trees can’t grow in the tropics. The trees bloom with stunning pink flowers early in the spring – so early that frost is a major concern. If frost kills the flowers, that means no fruit in the summer. Last year a February frost wiped out the entire peach crop of New England, and cut Jersey’s harvest in half. Farmers call it the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
But before the fruit even shows up, there’s a huge job for Tom to do – he needs to thin out the blossoms. Since each flower could potentially grow a fruit, he needs to make room for the peaches to grow without squashing each other, so by hand he and his men remove flowers up and down every limb of his six thousand trees. There’s no rest for the weary.
Harvest season begins here in July, hits its peak in August, and carries on through September. (Tom): Try to control your hands from spreading the fuzz all over you… (Nicole): And what will happen if the fuzz gets on my skin? (Tom): You are just gonna break out into a rash, and then you’re gonna be itching yourself all day… (Nicole): So long sleeve…(Tom): Long sleeve shirt on first…(Nicole): Right.
(Nicole): What about something like this? (Tom): All right, it looks ready to go… (Nicole): Yeah. (Tom): But what happens is when you flip it back over, you’ve got almost half the peach between green and yellow. (Nicole): And yellow… yeah it’s a very light yellow… yeah. (Tom): So what… what that is not mature and it’s not ready to be picked. (Nicole): Okay.
(Tom): You have to take the… the limbs and look up and underneath of them, to make sure about what color. (Nicole): Okay… okay. (Nicole): Basically, peaches don’t all ripen at the same time on the tree! (Tom): They don’t. (Tom): It’s just a quick little turn and snap and all… (Nicole): Okay, so a small twist…(Tom): Turn… snap! (Nicole): Oh it snapped right off. (Tom): Snap, you got it.
(Nicole): Lovely! (Tom): All right? (Nicole): Okay, all right, I can do this! (Tom): So you got… you got that? (Nicole): All right… (Nicole): He’s letting me assess these for color and size… I don’t know… I’m nervous for him… (Tom): Hahahaha… (Nicole): Do we have to get into the tree? Yeah? Yeah…
I’m cheating… he’s telling me which ones to do… haha… Today, it’s 104 degrees… This is by far the hottest harvest I’ve ever participated in. I am amazed at the stamina and skill of these guys, who come up from Puerto Rico every year. [Spanish] Tom sells most of his fruit to customers right from his packing house.
He says people have been known to drive 150 miles to buy his peaches. (Tom): Uh… the biggest thing that people have no clue about is the acidity level in the white peaches… it’s just a straight much more sweeter sugary taste, and you don’t get the bite of the tart, in the back of your jaw – like you would like with a yellow piece of fruit.
Peaches don’t continue to ripen after they are picked. All farms pick their fruit firm, so they’ll endure the shipping. Also – so customers don’t have to race to eat them all up. Now how do you store your peaches so they don’t turn dry and mealy? Here’s Tom’s “Pro Tip”: when you get them home, leave them all out on the counter – that’s right, don’t put any in the fridge, and don’t wash them yet either.
Let them all soften. Then put the ones you’re not ready to eat in a plastic zipper storage bag, and put that bag in the fridge. See, peach skin is porous, so without the bag protecting the fruit, the circulating air in your fridge will strip out moisture, with each pass through the fruit, turning them dry and mealy.
Now, I can’t tell the story of peaches without acknowledging passionate regional loyalties… I know some Americans who won’t eat a peach outside of their own state. I’m looking at you – Georgia… And as crazy as that sounds, there is a truth here: Peaches do taste different – the hotter South grows different varieties from the cooler North.
Heck, Sicily grows different varieties from Spain! Also, climate and soil affect the flavor. So I say bring on the food fight! We live in a world of ever-increasing monoculture and uniformity, where everyone grows the same one variety of banana… and foods like wheat flour are made to taste the same.
Let’s celebrate the differences in our peaches – one sticky sweet fight at a time…