Ingredient: Peaches and nectarines
Category: Fruit
Season: September to late October
The peach (Prunus persica) is a species of Prunusnative to China that bears an edible juicy fruit also called a peach.
Important historical peach-producing areas are China and Iran, France, and the Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain and Greece.
More recently, the United States (where the three largest producing states are California, South Carolina, and Georgia), Canada (southern Ontario and British Columbia), and Australia (the Riverland region) have also become important.
Cultivated peaches are divided into "freestone" and "clingstone" cultivars, depending on whether the flesh sticks to the stone or not; both kinds can have either white or yellow flesh.
Peaches with white flesh typically are very sweet with little acidity,
Yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly.
Both colours often have some red on their skin.
Low-acid white-fleshed peaches are the most popular kinds in China, Japan, and neighbouring Asian countries,
Europeans and North Americans have historically favoured the acidic, yellow-fleshed kinds.
Nectarines
The nectarine is a cultivar group of peach that has smooth, fuzz less skin.
Though fuzzy peaches and nectarines are commercially regarded as different fruits , with nectarines often erroneously believed to be a crossbreed between peaches and plums, or a "peach with a plum skin", they belong to the same species as peaches.
Several genetic studies have concluded in fact that nectarines are created due to a recessive gene , whereas a fuzzy peach skin is dominant.
Nectarines have arisen many times from peach trees , often as bud sports.
As with peaches, nectarines can be white or yellow, and clingstone or freestone .
On average, nectarines are slightly smaller and sweeter than peaches , but with much overlap.
The lack of skin fuzz can make nectarine skins appear more reddish than those of peaches , contributing to the fruit's plum-like appearance.
The lack of down on the skin also means their skin is more easily bruised than peaches .
The history of the nectarine is unclear ; the first recorded mention in English is from 1616, but they had probably been grown much earlier within the native range of the Peach in central and eastern Asia.
Regular peach trees occasionally produce a few nectarines, and vice versa.
Peach trees are the second most commonly cultivated fruit trees in the world after apple trees
Unripened peaches and nectarines, can be somewhat rescued in cooking, so poaching them is a good idea.
Peaches are also available packed in cans , for use in desserts. |