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Being a peach grower with about
1,000 trees, we do things a little differently than the commercial
growers. Peaches grown and shipped commercially to the grocery stores are
picked at first color. That means at the first sign of that yellowish/red
tint, they are ready to pick to be shipped. They are not picked at the
right stage to have any flavor, but the poor folks that have only purchased
peaches at the grocery store don't know any better. To get the best flavor
for peaches, they should be picked when "firm ripe". "Firm ripe"
means they are not soft yet, but not too hard either. The color should
have a good red tint to it, but not too much red. They should be
"cooled down" at 68 degrees for 24 hours. Then they should be stored at 34
degrees while waiting to be sold. Can anyone imagine a commercial grower
doing this? Since we grow only for our own market, this is how we handle
our peaches. We have never been able to meet the demand for our peaches
and have always had to supplement. We purchase our supplements from
Eckert's Orchards in Bellville, IL who grow their peaches the same as we do and
pick them at the same time. Our shipments arrive on Friday morning, having
been picked on Thursday. We store them at 34 degrees and they last us for
a good 7 days. We always sell out just when that next shipment arrives and
have never had a complaint about tasteless peaches. And we still have a
problem meeting demand! It's a good problem to have.
By the way, 34 degrees is the
optimum temperature for storage of peaches and apples as well as scion
wood. When our new trees arrive to be planted, we keep them at 34 until
they go into the ground, which is within 36 hours. Apples and peaches
stored at 36 degrees will start to break down much faster than at 34 and at 40
won't last at all. 40 degrees is the temperature at which bacteria will
start to develop and any good health department would shut anyone down if their
refrigerator that held any food being served to the public was at 40
degrees or above. If I can locate an article from Fruit Growers News about
the latest storage tests done on peaches I will post it that covers this exact
subject.
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