North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

I went to a U-pick for peaches, and the main variety ripe at the time had a lot of little scars from a late frost.  Brown rot would start in a scar, and the picker would see it and drop the fruit on the ground.  There were vast numbers of rejected fruit on the ground, much of it with one teeny brown spot per peach.  I filled the two five gallon buckets I'd intended, at $9 per bucket.  But I filled another 2 buckets with the rejects and told the owner what I had and asked what he wanted for them.  He only charged me $2 a bucket for them!  Of course, I was up till 2 am canning them, as they wouldn't keep even a day in the August heat.  Wine is another good way to quickly dispose of perishable fruit.  Donna