How Can I Get Good Peaches??

[Trail]

So on Sunday, bought some lovely looking peaches from the fruit shop. I like peaches, especially the big juicy ones that you bite into and the juice all squishes out and runs down your chin while you get that huge fresh burst of flavour. Yum!

Got home and took a bite expecting the yummy juiciness... but it was this dry pithy nasty thing

Now I know we grow fantastic peaches here in NZ. A couple of weeks ago I was down in Central Otago, buying them by the box full and eating them. Is it really that hard to get a good peach from Central Otago to Christchurch??

I think the fruit retailers need a wake up call. Palming off second rate goods as if they were the real thing really annoys me, and there is no way I can actually figure out whether a peach is good or not. If I was to bite into one in the store before buying they would accuse me of stealing, and yet there is no other way for me to know if the peaches they are selling are any good or not.

So... how can I get a good peach?

[ThingOne]

I hear ya.... me too, the stone fruit at the supermarkets is really el crappo.. No flavour, no taste nothing.. and its expensive.
Probably because its been in cold storage for 3 years.

[sweet_P]

Ring a Central Otago orchard and get them to courier you up a box - although it's probably getting a bit late in the season? The peaches were still fantastic mid Feb when I was down in central - bottled many, many jars of them

[Trail]

I hear ya.... me too, the stone fruit at the supermarkets is really el crappo.. No flavour, no taste nothing.. and its expensive.
Probably because its been in cold storage for 3 years.

I try not to buy fruit out of season as cold storage is one thing that can definitely wreck some fruit. I would have thought that it was just the end of the peach season and so these would be alright... but I was wrong

I am thinking of taking the mushy tasteless things back and just throwing one by one at the managers head. Might not achieve much, but it would probably make me feel better

Or maybe a drive by peaching... zoom up in a car, pelt the manager with squishy peaches and zoom off!!

[Colin]

For years scientists have been developing fruit that turns a nice colour, looks ripe but the flesh is still firm to allow for easy transport without damage. The way the fruit looks in the supermarket, long shelf-life and limited losses is way more important than how it tastes.

And for years orchardists have been pulling out the trees that grow the best tasting fruit and replacing them with trees that produce the best selling fruit. The fruit demanded the large buyers.

You are going to need to plant and tend your own trees to get fruit like you used to eat.

[Tama]

Ring a Central Otago orchard and get them to courier you up a box - although it's probably getting a bit late in the season? The peaches were still fantastic mid Feb when I was down in central - bottled many, many jars of them

We got some stone fruit from Sarita Orchard on the way back from the Brake Burner. They do online orders (see bottom of page): http://www.saritaorchard.co.nz/summerfruit.html

[-Reaper-]

I hear ya.... me too, the stone fruit at the supermarkets is really el crappo.. No flavour, no taste nothing.. and its expensive.
Probably because its been in cold storage for 3 years.

I'm temporarily working in a supermarket produce department before I go to aus for uni. A lot of it comes down to who is running the show - if the manager is on top of their game, only an adequate amount of stock is ordered in each day, which keeps the fruit nice and fresh. (That's not to say the manager at your local supermarket isn't a munter) In the particular place I work, we never have stock sitting around for more than 2 days, and it is kept refrigerated the whole time. When stuff is kept refrigerated in the big warehouses, all oxygen is removed from the room which prevents a lot of over-ripening.
Often customers cannot find ripe fruit when they are doing their shopping... that means that the fruit is still "fresh", and has only a small part to play in how the peaches taste. (I think things like extreme weather conditions produce sweeter, jucier fruit, but there will be some horticultrualist out there who will correct me.) I have noticed however, that some growers tend to produce better peaches than others - if you can, try and buy 'Yummy' brand stonefruit. It may be a little more expensive, but in my experience, its almost always worth it.
Personally I prefer nectarines. yummy summer diamond nectarines are amazing when they are nice and soft/ripe.

[Trail]

For years scientists have been developing fruit that turns a nice colour, looks ripe but the flesh is still firm to allow for easy transport without damage. The way the fruit looks in the supermarket, long shelf-life and limited losses is way more important than how it tastes.

And for years orchardists have been pulling out the trees that grow the best tasting fruit and replacing them with trees that produce the best selling fruit. The fruit demanded the large buyers.

You are going to need to plant and tend your own trees to get fruit like you used to eat.

Bollocks. The peaches for sale in Central Otago taste great... The problem with the ones I bought the other day is that the cold storage had ruined them.

Peaches are among those temperate zone fruits susceptible to chilling injury. Woolliness is a factor of considerable commercial importance wherever peaches and nectarines are grown. Woolliness or mealiness was found to be the major problem affecting cold-stored peach fruit.

I do agree with you about orchadists breeding fruit for the consumers eye rather than taste and this is why I no longer buy apricots.

[scatter]

You shoulda done come raided our two trees. They're truly organic

We had three buckets full made into chutney, jam etc. That sodding southerly finished them off unfortunately

[Trail]

I hear ya.... me too, the stone fruit at the supermarkets is really el crappo.. No flavour, no taste nothing.. and its expensive.
Probably because its been in cold storage for 3 years.

I'm temporarily working in a supermarket produce department before I go to aus for uni. A lot of it comes down to who is running the show - if the manager is on top of their game, only an adequate amount of stock is ordered in each day, which keeps the fruit nice and fresh. (That's not to say the manager at your local supermarket isn't a munter) In the particular place I work, we never have stock sitting around for more than 2 days, and it is kept refrigerated the whole time. When stuff is kept refrigerated in the big warehouses, all oxygen is removed from the room which prevents a lot of over-ripening.
Often customers cannot find ripe fruit when they are doing their shopping... that means that the fruit is still "fresh", and has only a small part to play in how the peaches taste. (I think things like extreme weather conditions produce sweeter, jucier fruit, but there will be some horticultrualist out there who will correct me.) I have noticed however, that some growers tend to produce better peaches than others - if you can, try and buy 'Yummy' brand stonefruit. It may be a little more expensive, but in my experience, its almost always worth it.
Personally I prefer nectarines. yummy summer diamond nectarines are amazing when they are nice and soft/ripe.

Yes, but if the fruit has been wrecked by cold storage before the supermarket manager gets hold of it, and has become dry and mealy... how am I supposed to find that out?

[Trail]

You shoulda done come raided our two trees. They're truly organic

We had three buckets full made into chutney, jam etc. That sodding southerly finished them off unfortunately

Doh!

If I had known I would have been out there scoffing peaches

[Slim]

Ring Brent, who is coming to CHCH next week for a pissup and get him to bring you a box


Oh and next year, come steal them off our trees

[Tama]

You shoulda done come raided our two trees. They're truly organic

We had three buckets full made into chutney, jam etc. That sodding southerly finished them off unfortunately

You've inspired me to start a chutney thread: how-much-chutney-did-you-make-this-summer-t93916.html

[-Reaper-]

I hear ya.... me too, the stone fruit at the supermarkets is really el crappo.. No flavour, no taste nothing.. and its expensive.
Probably because its been in cold storage for 3 years.

I'm temporarily working in a supermarket produce department before I go to aus for uni. A lot of it comes down to who is running the show - if the manager is on top of their game, only an adequate amount of stock is ordered in each day, which keeps the fruit nice and fresh. (That's not to say the manager at your local supermarket isn't a munter) In the particular place I work, we never have stock sitting around for more than 2 days, and it is kept refrigerated the whole time. When stuff is kept refrigerated in the big warehouses, all oxygen is removed from the room which prevents a lot of over-ripening.
Often customers cannot find ripe fruit when they are doing their shopping... that means that the fruit is still "fresh", and has only a small part to play in how the peaches taste. (I think things like extreme weather conditions produce sweeter, jucier fruit, but there will be some horticultrualist out there who will correct me.) I have noticed however, that some growers tend to produce better peaches than others - if you can, try and buy 'Yummy' brand stonefruit. It may be a little more expensive, but in my experience, its almost always worth it.
Personally I prefer nectarines. yummy summer diamond nectarines are amazing when they are nice and soft/ripe.

Yes, but if the fruit has been wrecked by cold storage before the supermarket manager gets hold of it, and has become dry and mealy... how am I supposed to find that out?

I'm not entirely certain it is the cold storage which wrecks them. I remember being impressed by cold-stored apples in november

[Trail]

Ring Brent, who is coming to CHCH next week for a pissup and get him to bring you a box


Oh and next year, come steal them off our trees

Yep, knowing people with excess fruit on their trees at home has got to be the winner!!

Mmm maybe I can talk Brent into bringing me a box from Central (if they still have them for sale at the stalls).