Fruit
Peach
MelocotónPréssecPrunus persica
Peach, nectarine and flat peach are the same species: a nectarine is a peach without fuzz, and the flat peach a squashed one. The one you can peel with your hands, dripping down to your elbow, is the one that was perfect.
When
Around: Jun–Oct · At its best: Jul–Aug
Around: Jun–Oct · At its best: Jul–Aug
Around: Dec–Apr · At its best: Jan–Feb
Around here
Lleida, above all the Segrià, is one of Europe's major peach and nectarine areas, and much of what's sold in Catalonia comes from there. Close by, in Lower Aragon, is the Melocotón de Calanda (PDO): yellow, late, bagged on the tree one by one, from September to October.
At the market
- Follow your nose: if it doesn't smell of peach, it won't taste of peach.
- The background colour should be cream or yellow, not green; the red blush depends on the variety and says nothing about ripeness.
- It should give a little near the stalk; if it's rock hard, it will never be quite right.
- No bruises: each one rots within a day.
At home
- If firm, keep them at room temperature, stalk end down and not piled up, for a day or two.
- Once ripe, three or four days in the fridge; too long in the cold makes them mealy.
- Take them out a while before eating: cold kills the aroma.
If you have too much
- Homemade peaches in syrup: peeled (blanched for 30 seconds, the skins slip off), halved and in sterilised jars.
- Freeze them peeled and sliced, with a few drops of lemon so they don't brown.
- Jam, or a compote with barely any sugar for yoghurt.
- Sorbet or a smoothie with the ones that have gone too soft.
In the kitchen
- Raw, bitten into, better outdoors than on the sofa.
- Peaches in wine: sliced, with red wine and a little sugar, a few hours in the fridge.
- In a salad with tomato, burrata and basil.
- Griddled or barbecued, with ice cream or cured ham.
- In a tart, a coca or a summer crumble.
What it brings
Per 100 g, raw.
- Energy
- 39 kcal
- Water
- 89% water
- Carbs
- 9.5 g
- Sugars
- 8.4 g
- Fibre
- 1.5 g
- Protein
- 0.9 g
Stands out for
It isn't a «source» of anything by the EU rules: you eat it because it's good, which is plenty.
Data from the USDA (FoodData Central). See the full table ↗ · How we decide what stands out
Goes with
- PlumJun–SeptPlums come in every colour, from the green of greengages to purple so dark it's nearly black. The white dust on the skin is the plum's own bloom, not a spray: if it's intact, the fruit has barely been handled.
- ApricotMay–JulA good apricot splits with your fingers and lets go of its stone on its own. The season is short, late May to July, and a cold-stored one is nothing like one from the tree.
- MelonJun–SeptPicking a melon is famously a lottery, and there's some truth in that. But they don't all behave alike: cantaloupes keep ripening at home, while piel de sapo barely does.
- TomatoJun–OctAn August tomato and a January one only share the colour. And a good tomato's worst enemy isn't winter: it's your fridge.