We can eat them cold. Pick them right off the tree and eat them. Or, we can eat them sliced with milk, ice cream, or other fruit. Cathy Isom begins August by celebrating a delicious fruit that according to one culture brings good luck, wealth, and protection. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Celebrating National Peach Month
Summertime is known for bringing us some of the greatest and most delicious fruits and vegetables. The month of August is no exception.
This month we celebrate the Peach. The fuzzy stone fruit that provides us with a bounty of sweet goodness all summer long. Interestingly enough, there are more than 300 peach varieties that grow in the United States, including yellow, white, clingstone and freestone. There are more than 2-thousand varieties globally.
Peaches are native to China, and they’ve been cultivated for more than a thousand years. To the Chinese, peaches bring good luck, wealth and protection.
Peaches are commercially produced in 23 states. The top four states in peach production are California, South Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey. California supplies nearly 49 percent of the United States fresh peach crop and more than 96 percent of processed peaches.
Nutritionally speaking, one large peach, about 2 and 3/4 inch diameter contains just 68 calories and no fat. Peaches are naturally sweet and can replace some of the added sugars in your diet. They are also an excellent source of the strong antioxidant vitamin C. Peaches can also help combat the formation of free radicals known to cause cancer.
I’m Cathy Isom…