Têton de Venus
(Venus' breast)
The phrase above was the nickname given to peaches during the reign of Louis XIV. There is no doubting that they are among the most sensual of fruits. Peaches, along with their closely related cousin, nectarines are one of the most tangible reminders of summer. There are few better treats in late summer than biting into a perfectly ripe peach and allowing the juice to run decadently down your chin.
The peach has a long and colourful history. The English word was derived from the French pêche, which in turn was taken from the Latin Persicum malum, or Persian apple. Alexander the great discovered peaches on his journeys through Persia and introduced them to the Greeks. Thus the start of this sublime fruit's international renown began.
However, the peach's history travels back much farther. The tree is native to China and mention of the fruit in Chinese literature dates back as far as 551 BC. The peach has long been highly revered in China, the tree as a symbol of life and the fruit as symbols of immortality and unity. To this day, Chinese brides often carry peach blossoms to their wedding.
There is a huge variety of peaches (over 160 are grown in Australia alone, with new hybrids emerging each year), though they are seldom sold by variety. What you will generally find for sale is either clingstone peaches, which obviously enough have a stone that adheres tightly to the flesh and freestone or slipstone peaches, whose stones separate easily and cleanly. Peaches are further divided by flesh colour, either yellow or white (with one rare variant, the French pêche de vigne, which posses a beguiling crimson flesh).
Most peach varieties have short seasons of ripeness, some lasting only a matter of days. Apart from flesh colour and the slip or cling nature of the stone, different varieties are distinguished by the time of year they ripen. A peach you bought at the greengrocer one week ago may well be a totally different variety to the one you buy today.
Clingstone peaches tend to be firmer and hold their shape better than freestones, making them more suitable as a cooking and preserving fruit. Freestones on the other hand, are a little softer and juicier, making them perfect as table fruit. They are also the right choice if you need clean peach halves for presentation. The reason clingstone pips adhere to the fruit is the same factor that makes them firmer than their freestone relatives. The pectic substances in the cell wall structure of freestone peaches become much more soluble during ripening than clingstones do. This not only ensures the stone slips away easily, but the flesh is softer and juicier once fully ripe. Unfortunately freestone peaches are becoming harder to find as growers move away from these varieties. Freestones do not store or travel as well and are becoming another victim of our pre-packaged convenience society.
The only way to tell a cling and freestone peach apart is to cut one open. If this option is not a viable one, you will have to seek advice from your greengrocer, the box they came in should be clearly labeled as to its type.
Peaches will not ripen, nor get any sweeter once they have been picked. They will simply get softer. Many people will have had the disappointing experience of biting into a dry, mealy peach. This is due not only to early harvesting, but also the unfortunate practice of keeping the fruit in cold storage for up to several weeks. This treatment retards the enzyme activity that would normally convert insoluble protopectins into soluble pectin; resulting in a sad culinary experience.
No matter what type of peach you are buying, there are a few simple rules for selecting a fabulous peach. First, wait until they are in season. Peaches are in season from December to April in the Southern hemisphere, and June to October in the North. Most of the varieties sold early and late in this period are hybridized purely to extend the season, and they rarely make good eating. When you visit your greengrocer, there is a failsafe guide to telling how good the peaches are. They are kind enough to exude a pungently sweet aroma when they are fully ripe. Have a deep smell of the peaches. If they have little or no aroma, they will most likely have been picked under-ripe, no matter how soft they are. Lastly, if you really want to get a great peach, take a drive out to a local orchard area. Speaking from personal experience, there are plenty of stone fruit growers around the Kurrajong region, roughly 1 hour's drive North-West of Sydney. Check to see if there are any growers in your local area.
These growers sell fruit picked straight from their own trees. The intoxicatingly sweet aroma literally hits you metres away from the stand. Because orchard fruit is usually only hours picked from the tree, they are the best option when searching for the perfect peach.