By TOM YODER
THE GOSHEN NEWS
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While the fresh peach season is slowly dwindling there are still peaches available at most growers because of their ability to stretch the season with large coolers and plenty of moisture that will help retain the moisture content in them.
Eventually, though, they will lose that precious moisture and develop a mealy texture which makes them less desirable. Fresh off the vine is best to sink your teeth into and there is no other sensation that takes the place of that peach tang with it’s juices running down your chin and the desire to get another one to gulp down.
Most growers have a unique process of taking fresh picked peaches that have been collected by pickers, in bags, and carefully rolled into large ten bushel bins. Large flatbed trailers are loaded and hauled to the processing area where they are unloaded with forklifts and placed on a vertical cooling rack that allows cool water to flow through the fruit bins to cool down the warm fruit and prepare them for temporary storage in a cooler at temperatures in the mid thirties.
Time is of the essence to get these fruits processed by washing, grading for size, and culling for irregularities and damaged fruit and boxed for shipping while the fruit is still in prime condition.
Local stores as well as dealers as far away as Chicago and Ohio could buy peaches in bin boxes or crates, to re-sell to the public, from these growers and that’s what I did in the August through September months for Everett’s Grocery Store.
It was a job that was really enjoyable and I learned a lot about the process and the different peaches that were grown as well as the friendships with the different growers that I developed. I still make the trip each year to pick up some of my favorites and to renew old friendships.
I take them Olympia chocolates or The Nut Shoppe nuts and candies and they oblige me with peaches or apples — I love it.
Our local Amish community are big buyers at these growers with “haulers” that will take orders from their surrounding area and a date set for pick-up and then sell for a modest fee for pick-up and delivery.
Red Haven peaches are still the standard bearer, even with the introduction of many new varieties, because of their unique characteristic of not turning brown after cutting their flesh which makes them ideal for canning and freezing.
A pectin can have the same effect on fresh cut peaches by helping to retain the natural color of the fruit’s flesh. A fairly new introduction to the market was Paul Friday’s “Flaming Fury” — a genetically crossed cultivar that had a lot of the same characteristics as Red Haven by not turning brown when exposed to air. It had a somewhat redder flesh and the taste and quality were superior to some of it’s rivals.
When Red Haven are no longer available try some of the other or later varieties such as Redskin, Red Star, Coral Star, or Star Fire. If you have never tried a white flesh peach, try one of the newly developed “whites” like Blushing Star- they are wonderful.
Baby Gold peaches, while being a cling variety, are grown sparingly but can still be found and are a favorite for canning because slices retain their shape and color in a canning jar and make an excellent choice for judging in competition. Store bought canned tins are usually of this genre’.
Harmony and Loring were eye catchers some years ago with Harmony’s beautiful color and size and Loring’s huge size and yellow skin.
They are mostly gone now though because their size made them easily bruised and less desirable for growers as well as buyers.
