The peach is a semi-hardy deciduous woody perennial tree. A standard-sized peach tree will grow to 25 feet tall and just as wide if not pruned. A dwarf peach will grow to 6 feet tall and wide. For the best productivity, keep standard peaches pruned to about 15 feet tall. Most available peach varieties are…
Stone Fleshy Fruits
Plums: Kitchen Basics
There are all different, shapes, sizes, and colors of plums to be tried. Ripe plums can range in texture from firm to slightly soft. They can range in flavor from deliciously sweet to tasty tart. Plums can be pink, red, scarlet, purple, blue-black, green, yellow or amber skinned. Their flesh can be yellow, green,…
Donut Peach
A peach that is juicy and sweet—many say the best tasting of all peaches—and creamy with a pit that does not cling wrapped in a nearly fuzzless skin: I want that peach! That is the almost ancient Chinese pan tao peach which also is called peento peach, Chinese flat peach, saucer peach, and Saturn peach—as…
Apriums: Kitchen Basics
Apriums are juicy, sweet eating out of hand. An aprium is a hybrid fruit—¾ apricot and ¼ plum. ‘Honey Rich’ is perhaps the most popular aprium variety; its name aptly suggests the fruit’s intensely sweet flavor. Other aprium favorites are ‘Flavor Delight’ and ‘Tasty Rich’. The aprium’s flavor is often described as intense and complex….
Rainer Sweet Cherry
Not all cherries are created cherry red. Ranier is a yellow and red skinned cherry that it is one of the sweetest cherries you will ever taste. There are two cherry varieties with patially yellow or golden skins: Rainer and Royal Ann. Royal Ann–sometimes called Napoleon–is golden yellow blushed with red. Rainer is a bit…
Jujube: Kitchen Basics
The jujube is about the size of an olive or small date and has the texture and crisp, sprightly flavor of an apple. You can eat the jujube fresh out of hand or you can enjoy it dried—a favorite in China—or preserved in syrup—a favorite also in China and in Korea. The jujube can also…
Fire Sweet and Fantasia: Two Nectarines
‘Fire Sweet’ and ‘Fantasia’ are two simply mouth-watering nectarines. ‘Fire Sweet’ is a medium-sized nectarine with a flaming red and yellow skin that is smoothly sweet. A grower at the Ferry Building farmer’s market in San Francisco handed me a slice of ‘Fire Sweet’ last Saturday and it was so candy-sweet that I simply could…
Peach Varieties
There are more than 2,000 varieties of peaches. That’s a lot to choose from. There is no better way to pick a peach (and spend a day) than taste testing peaches at your local farm market. There is a favorite peach taste for everybody. To find the best peach, first take a whiff: a ripe…
Peaches: Kitchen Basics
Half a peach poached in syrup served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with raspberry purée: peach Melba. Barely chilled peach slices served with sugar and cream: peach Mom. Auguste Escoffier—the most famous chef of his time–created peach Melba in 1892 in honor of the Australian opera singer Nellie Melba. Peach Mom has…
Nectarine Varieties
Nectarines come to harvest in spring and continue through summer. If you get to know your nectarines and choose from early, midseason, and late harvest varieties, you can have fresh, local nectarines at your table for nearly half the year. The best way to select nectarines is to smell them and gently squeeze them. A…