Millions of peaches—peaches for thee

"Movin' to the country...

…gonna eat a lot of peaches.” Yes, that song written and performed by The Presidents of the United States and released in 1996. Lead singer Chris Ballew overheard a homeless man mutter, “I’m movin’ to the country; I’m gonna eat a lot of peaches” under his breath while waiting at a bus stop. Ballew wrote the song sitting under a peach tree waiting for a woman to come home so he could explain his crush on her. She never showed up, but the song became a big hit.

While “nature’s candy in my hand, or can, or pie” began long before the song, anyone who has tasted a peach in its many forms can agree with the pure goodness of a ripe one. The Chinese certainly did, about 6,000 B.C.E., when they domesticated peaches in the Zhejiang Province of China. Peaches have been mentioned in Chinese writing and literature beginning from the first millennium B.C.E. Crazy, huh?

Peaches spread to the rest of the world, Persia in particular, wound up a favorite in Japan in 4,700 B.C.E., and made their way to India, then to what is now Italy, on to Central Europe in the 12th Century, and finally to the Americas. Thomas Jefferson even planted a peach orchard at Monticello.

Eventually, peaches became a huge crop right here in the Sacramento Valley, being planted all the way north to the Red Bluff area. In the 1960’s, you could drive to Hamilton City and find it surrounded by peach orchards. They were right across the river and on the far side along Highway 32. My brother got a job picking peaches at the orchard, but “Little Timmy” was too young to work. I vowed to never eat a peach again— until my brother brought home some ripe beauties, and then it was Peach Face Smear City. What kid can eat a peach without their face becoming covered in peach juice?

You can still see hundreds of acres of peach orchards along Highways 99E and 70 if you travel south to Marysville/Yuba City. A large amount of our local supply comes from those orchards. If you drive around Chico, be on the lookout for peach trees. They are everywhere around town—along with nectarine and various plum varities. Yes, there are many peach varieties, but who cares? This isn’t an agricultural testament. The only testament you need when you eat ripe peaches is the beautiful taste either raw, in a pie, cobbler, or better yet, homemade peach ice cream!

I could tell you The International Peach Genome Initiative announced they had sequenced the peach tree genome in 2010 (doubled haploid Lovell), but NO ONE wants to hear about that. However, August is National Peach Month.