Peach

Persia in the name, China in the origin

The species name persica and the English word “peach” come from “Persian apple” — the route by which peaches reached Europe. But peaches are originally from northwest China, where they’ve been cultivated for at least 4,000 years and feature heavily in Chinese mythology as symbols of immortality.

Nectarine — a fuzzless peach

A nectarine is the same species as a peach. The smooth skin is the result of a single recessive gene that suppresses fuzz. A peach tree can produce a nectarine if grafted from the right cutting, and a peach pit grown from a nectarine can produce a peach. They’re effectively the same fruit with different surface chemistry.

Freestone vs. clingstone

This is the most useful distinction for cooks:

• Freestone — the pit pulls away cleanly from the flesh. Better for fresh eating, slicing, and recipes that need clean halves.
• Clingstone — the flesh adheres to the pit. Trickier to prep but often denser and less juicy. Most canning peaches are clingstone, since the texture holds up better to the canning process.

Trying to halve a clingstone peach by twisting (the standard technique) typically results in mangled fruit.

Ripening

Peaches are climacteric — they continue ripening after harvest. A peach picked rock-hard will soften, but flavor can never catch up to a tree-ripened fruit. Buy peaches that already smell fragrant at the stem; they’ll continue to soften at room temperature over 1–3 days. Once soft, refrigerate to slow further ripening.

A summer-only fruit, properly

Peaches don’t ship well or store long. The peaches available year-round in North America’s supermarkets in winter are usually from Chile or Spain, picked rock-hard, and rarely worth the price. A late-July peach from a roadside stand in Georgia, South Carolina, or California’s Central Valley is one of the great seasonal pleasures.