Pick a Peach!

We try to bring only the best peaches to the market (we probably toss or donate to food banks as many as we bring!). Here's what we search for:

The Look:

The peach should be round and full. A "flattened" peach or a deep crease in the side is signs that it's not quite ripe and ready yet.

The Touch:

Well, be careful here! Treat your peaches like eggs, and handle gently. Applying pressure on the side will bruise and damage the peach, so pick up by holding the top and bottom of the peach only! Our peaches are ripe, but firm (so we can get them to you without damage!) and may need 1-2 days to soften up. If we brought them any riper, they would easily get damaged. The peach should be firm, with just a hint of give. In 1-2 days, it will be nice and soft and ready to dive into!

The Smell:

Okay, go ahead and sniff it. Don't be shy. In some ways this is the best indication, since different varieties will look different. It should smell sweet and fresh with hints of honey and citrus. The aroma will become more intense as it ripens!

The Science:

For our markets, we pick fruit when it's ripe. In addition to the basics above, we can tell when its ripe by testing the sugars in the fruit to make sure each variety is about as sweet as it will get. Each variety increases its BRIX (the sugar measured in the fruit juice) as it ripens, which means a sweeter fruit. The early varieties of peaches were about 10% sugars, while we are now in the 12% range and steadily climbing. We can increase

the sugar content of each variety by leaving them on the tree 1 day longer (or more), but then they get too soft to get them to you safely. We are currently working on special packaging to allow us to mail them direct to you in great condition, but that will come later.

The Storage:

Keep your peaches out on your counter to get them to your desired softness. Then, when they're perfectly ripe, pop them in the fridge to keep them from ripening further. Or you can keep a few in the fridge, and then bring them out to room temperature to ripen later as well. Putting them in a paper bag will indeed ripen them faster (ripening fruit

gives off a gas that helps other fruit ripen); but if you are in a HUGE hurry; put them in your car trunk outside for a while! The heat will speed up the process.