My father bought a 7 acre peach orchard in Suisun Valley in 1955. The orchard had a few trees of J H Hale variety. This is a large peach and is the best tasting peach I have ever eaten. I sure do miss them as it has been 50 years since I have had the pleasure of eating one. The Fae Elberta was a pretty good eating peach too.

My brother was taking basic training at Fort Ord in 1960 and a fellow recruit from Georgia kept bragging about how Georgia had the best peaches so he had my father send him a few of the Hale peaches to show his friend what good California peaches were. The orchard is long gone as my father sold it after his cheap labor (me) left home. I did pay for a significant portion of my college education from the pay I earned while working in the orchard. To this day I refuse to buy a peach at the grocery store as it just is not the same as picking a dead ripe peach off of a tree and pealing the skin off and enjoying a real treat.

I love them, I don't peel them, and I want a freestone peach, with the red around the pit.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Fifty years ago, I was working a summer job for my dad. Part of my job was to drive through alleys in small towns looking for natural gas leaks. One hot day, behind an abandoned Catholic rectory, I found a tree so loaded with peaches it was falling over. I stopped the truck and ate for hours. I got on the 2-way radio to advise some other employees in that town to stop by.

I bought some fresh peaches a week or so ago at the local store and they were very good also, but not as good as that day years ago.

You might try the "Belle of Georgia" white peach... I planted one back in 1995...and lost every bud to a late frost every year until 2000. They are extremely good peaches... but Missouri is a little too far north for them.. no matter what the planting guides say... I'm not sure what planting area you guys are in...and whether you get hit by cooler weather due to the mountains or not........But heck, the dwarf peach trees are pretty cheap.. and as long as you have the room...plant several varieties and find out which you like & which do the best in your local clime.....

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be safe,enjoylife,journey well

Free is always better.

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Don

Blazing Star, grown in Palisade, Colorado.

I have always found Georgia peaches to be the best tasting of all.

Yes, yes, YES! The freestone peaches are so much better, to my way of tasting. I especially love and watch for the ones from Georgia and Alabama. I grew up on the ones from northern Georgia.

ETA: The freestones make sublime peach ice cream, and nothing--nothing--is much better than homemade peach ice cream made with heavy cream.

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Oh well, what the hell.

We have a neighbor that grows peaches and he will have some ready for us tomorrow. I don't know the variety but they are good raw and in pies and ice cream. I LIKE PEACHES!!! Larry

I think I have room to squeeze in one more dwarf tree and I see that David Wilson Nursery sells dwarf J H Hale trees. I think I will plant one this winter. I have a volunteer plum tree that was growing on the fence line when I bought this place. I cut it down but it grew back and last winter I grafted several varieties on it; Golden Nectar Plum, Santa Rosa Plum, Heavenly White Nectarine, Royal Apricot and Geo Pride Plout. I could graft on a J H Hale if I bought the tree. I got the above scions at the local scion exchange last January. I have never seen any hale scions at the exchange. Next year I might graft a couple of cherry varieties on the plum tree to make it a complete fruit salad tree. For a white peach I like Babcock or Nectar. I do not have much room in my suburban back yard.

I also like the free stones.
The best ones out this way are from West CO.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I wait eagerly each year for the one truck to arrive from Georgia and sell out the cargo in just a few hours. Wonderful peaches, I know they are freestone but nothing else about them...just thankful to see them show up each year in NW Wisconsin.

Although I can hardly imagine what a better peach would be, I suspect (as redlevel has previously hinted) that the very best peaches never cross the Georgia border.

Now, you folks in Colorado might raise some good peaches, but where you truly excel is in sweet corn... Wander over to a small town on the western slope some time and try their namesake: Olathe Sweet Corn

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Do or do not. There is no try.

My Father sold most of his peaches to produce stores in Napa, Peatluma and Healsburg. I really enjoyed riding with him in the 1958 Studebaker Pickup with a load of peaches in back and going for a drive. He also dried the peaches that were too ripe to ship. We used to pick up the windfall fruit as they were dead ripe with the most sugar and made the best dried fruit. We just had to cut out the dirt clods and rotten spots. They passed a law that said this was unsanitary and we had to plow under the fallen fruit. After spending 12 hours in an atmosphere of pure sulfur dioxide I am sure they were perfectly sanitary. When they came out of the house they were a pale greenish white but when they dried they got their color back. I remember the time the sulfur house caught fire and burned down. There went a significant part of that years profit. We had a mini railroad that we loaded the fruit laden trays on to move into the sulfur house and then on to the drying field. There was a set of wide tracks that went form the cutting shed to the sulfur house. A wide car ran on this track and on top of it were a set of rails that the narrow car rode on. We placed the fruit laden trays onto this car.There was a spur line that ran out to the drying yard. This was a one man power or sometimes one boy power system. The sulfur was placed in a can buried in the ground under the fruit and it would burn all night. I remember one morning we opened the house and I discovered a toad in the sulfur can. He had turned hard as a stone and was cherry red. We would take a portion of the peaches and peal off the skin and place them on wax paper to dry. They were just like candy. The dry fruit you buy in the store today is no where near as good as the fruit we dried back in the 60’s.

It's the geography and climate that makes both Olathe corn and Palisade peaches so good. August around here is delicious, and my canning and preserving schedule gets mighty heavy!

Father in law had a White Peach of some kind growing on his farm for years till a lightning storm took half of it and then the other half didn't survive but for 2 more years. Was always a prolific producer of 4-5 inch peachs, would love to know what it was.. Must have been a 30 year old tree.

I must have an unsophisticated palate. I won't walk away from any peach. Love 'em.

When I lived in Florida, a lot of folks would "put up" pickled peaches. Kinda like a "bread & butter" type. I got quite used to them. Don't see them around much any more.

Where's Deathgrip when ya need him?

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Speaking of white peaches there was one Nectar tree at the back of the orchard. We had a septic tank/ cess pool at the house. One year Dad needed to have it pumped so he made a deal with the local honey truck driver. He let him dump a few loads from his truck at the end of the orchard in exchange for pumping the tank. The Nectar tree was the one to receive the loads. Man that tree had the best peaches ever that year and some very nice tomatoes also.

Come on, guys! We all know that the best peaches come from South Carolina! I remember growing up and going to pick peaches with my mother. We normally got several bushels full. She would "can" or freeze some so we'd have them all year long. The thing we kids liked best was making peach ice cream! Took a lot of effort to churn it, but we'll worth it!

I don't know the variety but I had an old farm house built 1921 that had two peach trees on it. The smaller of the two had the biggest peaches I've ever seen and good too. We canned them and nothing better middle of a cold Michigan winter than those peaches. Sorry I sold the house just for the fruit trees on the property.

Every ripe juicy peach I ever ate was the best I ever had while eating it.

I doubt it's even possible to have a bad one!

We had 3 or 4 peach trees in our garden area when I was young. Mother would peel and slice them and freeze them in syrup. We loved to take them out of the freezer and let them defrost about half way. They were mostly soft then, but still with ice crystals. Man, were they good. I won't even get into Mom's fried pies and cobblers.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I have posted these pictures before, but here they are again.
We used to grow some JH Hale peaches, and a variety
I suspect was derived from that cultivar called Hale Haven
Also grew Fay Elbertas and regular Elbertas.
Most of the late peaches are probably close cousins
to Elberta. These pictures are of an old, very reliable
variety called Red Globe. They are one of the finest
eating or packing peaches going. I just had two of
them at lunch.

I'll just ignore the remarks about any peaches other
than Georgia grown being the best.

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Georgia On My Mind

If the Red Globes are in, it's time for a trip down to Woodbury for a peach run. My wife tends to use Red Globes almost exclusively for her Peach Jam due to the wonderful taste.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said!!!!!!!!!!!

CW

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μολὼν λαβέ

If your ever around Ruston, La.during peach season suggest you treat yourself to one grown there.

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Bill
Dis B. Leaf

Making preserves with Red Globe peaches.

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Georgia On My Mind

I know it seems ironic, but growing up in south Georgia, we had an orchard of 400 trees of Florida Kings. They are an early peach, and we usually would be picking in May. The down side to them was that a late freeze would wipe out the entire crop, but the potential for very good prices by being in the early market was worth the risk. I remember selling them to a broker for
$30/half bushel while I was in high school. Later in the season, as the market became flooded, average price was around $15/half to a broker. I still have 20 trees in my front yard, but they are past their prime production age now. They still produce a very good, semi freestone peach, just not as many as they used to. 2 bushels per tree was not uncommon when they were in their prime.

Absolutely the greatest fruit ever is a Georgia Peach. South Carolina
Peaches are great also. Peach Cobbler is the finest dessert ever made as well.

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PC, censorship
with a smile.

It's been my experience that a freshly picked and stolen peach, cherry or apple of any kind is hard to beat, store bought can't touch them. And I will add, the best peach I ever ate was indeed in Georgia.

We were driving through Utah on the way to California and points South Pacific. Stopped at a grocery store and mom bought some peaches.

They were almost as big as softballs and sweet. Also, so juicy that we had to park to eat them. I opened the door of the Rambler station wagon and leaned out to eat one so as not to drip on the back seat. The dirt shoulder we parked on was bone dry and the juice left large rain drop-like spots in the dust.

I have had other good peaches but those in Utah remain the best.

I have to put in a word for Palisade, Co. peaches. Just 50 miles down the road and on the way to church & shopping in Grand Junction, Co.
We can wait for the later peaches that are truly tree ripened. No disrespect to any other area. Just the best thing we have going in W. Co.

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JOSHUA 1:9

Chilton County Alabama grows more peaches than the entire state of Georgia. More varieties than I can count and I have never had a bad one.

regards

yashua

You, sir, are right. Right up the road from us in GA is a farm w/orchard where ya can pick your own. On-site, they make their own fresh peach ice cream. People stand in line to get it. They do the same with their fresh strawberries. I prefer the peach.

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GA 2A member
Vietnam Vet

I know for a fact that Chilton County peaches are tasty, because I have eaten them myself. You need to check your sources, though. Alabama is way down the list of peach producing states, prolly around 15th or 16th. A couple of sources I checked said that Chilton Co. has about 2500 acres of peaches. The grower who leases my property has 2500-3000 acres.

California is by far the leading producer in the U.S. South Carolina is way behind in 2nd place, and Georgia is pretty far behind SC in 3rd place.

? Leading peach producing U.S. states 2013 | Statistic

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Georgia On My Mind

O'Henry gets my vote.

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

we had peach trees in the back yard when I was a kid....mom would send me and my brother out to pick some, bring em in and she would turn them into a peach pie ....the taste of which had no equal... I could never get enough....nothing like that comes close today....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

"Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Elliot

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

g8rb8 beat me to it. O'Henry is the best peach I ever ate. That was over twenty years ago when I lived in N. Ca. The orchard was in Winters, Ca., west of Sacramento. Just simply delicious. I actually think they are a cross between a peach and nectarine.

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Kevin in Oregon

Can't vouch for the taste, but the rest is the best!