Peach

Get to know it

The peach is a fuzzy, juicy stone fruit from China, with white or yellow flesh around a deeply furrowed stone. People in eastern China were eating peaches about 8,000 years ago, and in 2024 the world grew 28 million tonnes of peaches and nectarines, 63% of them in China.

What it is

A peach is usually 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 in) across, greenish white to orange yellow with a red blush where the sun hit it. The flesh can be white, yellow or dark red, and it wraps a big, pitted and furrowed stone. In a freestone peach the flesh comes away from the stone easily; in a clingstone it holds on tight.

The peach belongs to the rose family, with the cherry, apricot, almond and plum. Flat peaches, called pan-tao, are pressed flat instead of round. Peaches keep ripening after they are picked.

Where it comes from

Peaches come from China. Peach stones about 8,000 years old, found in Zhejiang Province, show people already ate them there, and the Yangzi River valley is where they first picked out better peaches. The Spanish brought peaches to the Americas in the 16th century, and Native peoples spread them across North America.

In 2024 the world grew 28 million tonnes of peaches and nectarines, 63% of them in China, followed by Spain, Turkey and Italy. In the United States, California grew 532,000 of the country's 708,250 tons in 2025. Georgia, the Peach State, earned its name in the decades after the Civil War and now grows more than forty commercial varieties. In Japan, Yamanashi grows the most peaches.

How it's eaten where it grows

Across the American South, peach cobbler is the classic. One of the oldest known cobbler recipes, a "Peach Pot Pie or Cobler", is in The Kentucky Housewife of 1839, and in 2013 Texas made peach cobbler its official cobbler. At the Georgia Peach Festival, a cobbler more than 11 feet long takes 75 gallons of peaches.

Cherokee, Hopi and Iroquois cooks split and pitted peaches and dried them in the sun or over a fire; some made fruit cakes that were later soaked and cooked into a sauce served with cornbread. In China, longevity peach buns are lotus seed buns shaped like a peach, with a red tip, sometimes filled with lotus or red bean paste. In Italy, pesche dolci are little pastries made to look like peaches.

How it's grown

Peaches grow on deciduous trees that reach 15 to 25 feet (4.5 to 7.5 m) tall and wide, and they bear fruit from about their third year. Most varieties need 600 to 1,000 hours of winter chill between 4 and 10 °C (40 and 50 °F). The blossoms open early and are hurt if the air drops below about −1 °C (30 °F).

Growers thin the flowers and young fruit, because a branch carrying every peach gives small, flavourless fruit. Peaches taste best ripened on the tree and eaten the day they are picked.

When and where you'll find it

Peaches are a summer fruit. In the US, Florida's crop usually comes in April and May; Georgia and South Carolina pick from May to August; California's freestone peaches run from late April into early October; Pennsylvania's harvest usually runs from July to September. Peaches grow in both hemispheres, so imports keep some markets supplied all year.

Nearly all Georgia peaches go to the fresh market, with a few sold at roadside stands. California sends more than half its crop for processing, most of it clingstones, the canning kind. Yellow peaches also keep through the year canned, frozen or dried.

Sources · 9

Get it near Detroit

What it tastes like

As soft as a grapefruit, as sweet as a banana≈

Not sweetlemonSweet

MildbananaapplelemonSour

SoftpearappleCrisp

More about the taste

Peaches have sweet flesh beneath fuzzy skin. Freestone flesh separates easily from the pit; clingstone flesh holds tightly — this affects preparation, not flavor. Skin fuzz, flesh color and pit adherence are separately inherited traits, so fuzzy versus smooth skin doesn't determine flesh color or clinginess. Ask about the named variety, or cut a sample, when those details matter.

Peach is a fuzzy-skinned drupe; nectarine is its smooth-skinned form.

A tasting invitation

Notice whether the flesh clings to the pit or separates cleanly, then compare aroma, juice and acidity. Try two named varieties when possible. 'White' and 'yellow' are useful starting labels, but each still contains considerable variety.

Choose, ripen, store, eat

1ChooseFirm to slightly soft
Look for
Firm to slightly soft
Creamy white or deep yellow background
Yields gently
Inviting fragrance
Ignore
Red blush
Look for firm to slightly soft peaches. Skip very hard, shrivelled, bruised fruit or any with a fermented smell.
2RipenOn the counter
Ripens after pickingCounterPaper bag
Let an unripe peach finish softening in a closed paper bag, checking it as it changes. Move it to the refrigerator once ripe.
3StoreFridge, ripe
1. FridgeRipe
2. FreezerRipe, washed, peeled, packed
Refrigerate ripe peaches. To preserve a glut, freeze ripe fruit after washing, peeling and packing it for the freezer.
4EatFlesh · not pit
Eat
Flesh
Not eaten
Pit
Use the flesh and remove the pit. The popsicle recipe also removes the skin for a smooth purée; peeling is a preparation choice, not the fruit's defining flavor.

More tips

A useful detail Red coloration isn't a reliable sign of peak ripeness. Ground color, maturity and fragrance matter more — an attractive red peach can still disappoint inside.

Worth knowing

For eating soon, ask for a lot picked for local sale and taste a sample when offered — waiting at home won't recreate all the flavor that comes with later picking.
Look beyond redness — combine aroma, gentle firmness and what the seller can tell you about when it was picked.
Aroma and acid balance count as much as sweetness when comparing peach and nectarine varieties.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Grown hereJul–Sep

Ships from CaliforniaLast chance

73 growing areas, 21 countries

Aomori
Araucanía
Aydın
Balochistan
Bay of Plenty
British Columbia
Bursa
Cáceres
California
Castellón
Coquimbo
Eastern Cape
Espírito Santo
Florida
Fujian
Hawaii
Ica
La Libertad
Limpopo
Lower Saxony
Ontario
Río Negro
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Shandong
South Africa
South Australia
You

Grows hereIn season nowOther monthsYou

6 of 28 areas · October

123

Growing areas by country

United States13
Spain9
Chile5
France5
South Africa5
Argentina4
Brazil4
Japan4

and 16 more countriesand 13 more countries

Peaches have a long history in Indigenous foodways in North America, eaten fresh and dried by various Native American communities.
North America; university museum synthesis

1,371 varieties

See all 1,371 varieties

41 names in 22 languages

pêcherFrench

Cook it

How to serve it first

Serve a ripe peach in wedges with nothing added for the first taste. For a warm alternative, roast halves and add a small spoonful of yogurt. Let the fruit's own sweetness determine whether the dish needs any added sugar.

Recipes 3

11 peach festivals

Fuefuki Peach Blossom FestivalMar–AprFuefuki, Yamanashi, Japan · Organiser ↗Mar–Apr

Pinggu Peach Blossom FestivalApr–MayBeijing, China · Organiser ↗Apr–May

Georgia Peach FestivalJunFort Valley, Georgia, United States · Organiser ↗Jun

Louisiana Peach FestivalJunRuston, Louisiana, United States · Organiser ↗Jun

Parker County Peach FestivalJulWeatherford, Texas, United States · Organiser ↗Jul

South Carolina Peach FestivalJulGaffney, South Carolina, United States · Organiser ↗Jul

Festivals this month →

Strange but true

If you like Peach

Tastes alike

Close relatives

Nutrition, sources

Nutrition

Peaches, yellow, raw · per 100 g

Energy42kcal · 174 kJ

Carbohydrate: 10 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugars: 8.4 g
Protein: 0.9 g
Fat: 0.3 g
Vitamin C: 4.1 mg
Potassium: 122 mg

Sources

Peach · Fruitopia · checked Sep 23, 2026

What we don't know yet

A soft peach isn't necessarily free of mealiness — variety and storage history usually aren't known at a typical fruit display.