For August 3 2009

This week’s notes are for people within 200 miles of Philadelphia, PA who like peaches.

Pennsylvania Peaches – NOW through the end of August is THE time for the juiciest, tastiest local peaches to be ate with juice running down your chin.  Find a local orchard, farmer market or even supermarket that handles a local farmer’s peaches and pay them good money for great peaches (supermarket is last option here because of the logistics of freshness and ripeness – and make sure they can tell you what orchard the fruit is from).  Why are these so good?I’m glad you asked!  They are awesome because the fruit is allowed to fully ripen on the tree, is picked that day (or within the last 36 hours) and then sold to you by someone that probably touched the trees and can tell you their story.  This fruit will be firm but is full of juice (not firm and dry that you find from commercially shipped peaches – which can be good but will never touch a local peach!).  Let it set at room temperature for one day and it will soften slightly to the touch and the flesh will seem even juicier – and the sweetness, oh the sweetness!   Don’t wait around to eat your peaches, though, fully tree-ripened fruit breaks down fast and will draw fruit flyies to the brown-bruise spots in a few days.  Come on, they’re meant to be eaten within a day or two anyway – $hit or get off the pot!

My favorite Central PA Peaches for anyone who wants to take a drive this Saturday – use Google to look these up.

• Preston Orchards, Wernersville, PA – Fantastic fruit with a phenomenal view!  These super nice people own a classic stone farm house on the hills of Galen Hall that has a $1 million view of entire Reading area valley with a small orchard surrounding the slope that their home is on.  They pick the fruit the day before and sell it on their front porch with a smile and a story.  The fruit is DYNAMITE!  I bought a peck of Red Haven Yellow Peaches and a peck of White Flesh Peaches on Sunday morning.  They’ll be gone by Tuesday.
• Fahnestock Orchards, Manheim, PA – their fruit is always top notch, they also have a stand at Roots Auction
• Rohrer Orchard, Manheim/East Petersburg, PA – retail outlet located on Graystone Road before you reach East Pete behind the quarry – they’re fruit is grown near the turf farm between Auction and Stevens roads.  A true family operation who puts love into their orcharding.  Buy peaches from them.
• Brown’s Orchard, York, PA – super juicy, super sweet!  We occasionally buy their fruit for the warehouse here, but it needs to be shipped the very next day for the store to have a chance of retailing it.
• Cherry Hill Orchards, Lancaster, PA – A pick-your-own orchard that also has a retail outlet.  This was the first major orchard I ever visited.  My Mom took my sister and I there to pick sweet cherries.  Big place – cool orchard!  They’re peaches are pretty darn good.
• Other – Adams County, PA is know for great peaches and apples, Snyder’s Orchard in Bucks County does a nice job.  Non-Commercial orchards on NY and NJ should have great stuff right now too!

Now is the one time of the year I tell my customers not to buy peaches from me (a warehouse that ships mostly commercial farm peaches).  I can’t wait to go back to Preston Orchards!

Now you’re a Local Peach Insider,
The Produce Geek