Oh for a Peach!

[bradhurley]

Is it just me, or is it impossible to find good peaches in Canada? Even when I lived in New England I could find fresh, delicious local peaches in August. The markets here sell peaches from Ontario, individually wrapped and displayed in fancy boxes, but almost without exception they have a mealy texture and taste nothing like peaches. Their flavor is like that of weak sugar water blended with kerosene, turpentine, axle grease, and assorted powdery laboratory chemicals. Like a fool, I try these Ontario peaches every year, hoping they'll be at least edible, but after four years I've had no luck. California peaches shipped here are only marginally better. Canned peaches are the only edible option I've found, but really there's nothing like a good fresh peach!

[Nanohedron]

If it's any consolation, I can't seem to find a decent nectarine in Minneapolis...mealy and a taste not unlike cardboard.

[djm]

Come now, Brad. You don't really think we'd ship them to Quebec, do you? Mmmmmm, oh look, a nice, freshly picked, juicy Ontario peach. Yum!

djm

[The Weekenders]

I have a conspiracy theory that all the good ones are being shipped to Japan or something. I live in California and I have a hard time finding a good ripe peach or nectarine. I don't even buy nectarines anymore for that reason.

I get luckiest with the white varieties, like Babcock peaches, but by and large, they ain't the way they were when I was little, that's for sure.

[bradhurley]

Come now, Brad. You don't really think we'd ship them to Quebec, do you? Mmmmmm, oh look, a nice, freshly picked, juicy Ontario peach. Yum!

djm

Ah, now I get it! You save the good ones for yourselves and send the chemical-soaked rotten ones to us. Humph, typical Ontario behaviour!

[djm]

This may be a dumb question if it doesn't pertain to your situation, but why not grow your own? I've grown a set of peaches that barely fits in my chair any more.

djm

[bradhurley]

This may be a dumb question if it doesn't pertain to your situation, but why not grow your own? I've grown a set of peaches that barely fits in my chair any more.

djm

I don't think they'd do too well on my apartment balcony. If we ever buy our own house and have some garden space, though, you can be sure that peaches will be the third thing I plant (after asparagus and strawberries).

[Cynth]

It's very few times in my life that I've had a good fresh peach. The last I remember was over 40 years ago in Salt Lake City. My mom would buy quite a few from some orchard and can them. I don't even buy them anymore. I have better luck with nectarines but even those, like Nano says, can be mealy.

[ketida]

Man, do I feel sorry for youse guys. We've had ripe juicy fresh peaches here in Maryland for a couple of weeks now, and more to come through the end of September. Yum, yum. On cereal, with pancakes, or vanilla ice cream for desert...or mixed with melons and grapes for fruit salad...or just chomp into one all by its lonesome, juices running down the chin. Mm, mm, mmm.

[Sliabh Luachra]

MMMMMM. Nothing like a peach from the backyard.

Mark

[Nanohedron]

Man, do I feel sorry for youse guys. We've had ripe juicy fresh peaches here in Maryland for a couple of weeks now, and more to come through the end of September. Yum, yum. On cereal, with pancakes, or vanilla ice cream for desert...or mixed with melons and grapes for fruit salad...or just chomp into one all by its lonesome, juices running down the chin. Mm, mm, mmm.

MMMMMM. Nothing like a peach from the backyard.

Mark

Oh, shut up.

Yeah, Cynth, nectarines used to be reliable enough. Not any more, here, though. And I preferred them over peaches, actually. Never understood why nobody made nectarine preserves for the commercial market...

[chas]

I get luckiest with the white varieties

I feel really, really bad for you if the best you can find are white peaches. I kind of look at them as the delicious apple of the peach family. Delicious are inoffensive, pretty uniform in quality, but you'll never find one that bursts in your mouth like a good stayman or granny smith.

I'm in the same area as ketida and Sliabh. We had great nectarines beginning around 4th of July (I suspect those were from Georgia). The locals are in now. This is one of the best peach/nectarine years I can remember in the last decade. We've had late frost at least a couple of the last five years -- great for apples, horrible for peaches.

The thing about produce these days is, most of it is grown to transport, which means it's bred for durability rather than flavor. Where you really see this is in tomatoes -- go to a local produce stand (if you have one) and get a few tomatoes and compare them to what you get in the grocery store. I'm surprised they're even the same species. There are some good hydroponic tomatoes; they have flavor, but they don't have the tartness of a good heirloom.

Oh, man, time to start supper. Burgan burtha (spicy Indian eggplant) and Thai beef with basil.

[SteveShaw]

We've been getting decent peaches and nectarines here for a change this year. They seem to pick 'em completely unripe so that you could use one to kill a man at twenty paces. Give 'em a bit of a poke and fondle through the netting on the punnet. The ones that yield a bit have a game chance of being good tomorrow.

[susnfx]

Nearly every day for the past month I've gone to work at an outlying clinic we have in northern Utah. I drive past orchards with stands selling fresh peaches, cherries, raspberries, etc. You absolutely can't beat the fruit grown in northern Utah--something about the climate. Absolute perfection! I feel for you Brad. Like trying to find good Mexican food in Washington, D.C.

Susan

[Charlene]

I've gotten a few good peaches this year at the grocery store but this last batch was hard. So I put them in a paper bag on the counter - the one I had for lunch today was good after a couple of days in the bag, and I have hopes for the next one for tomorrow.