A Different Kind of Donut

If you have visited your local farmers' market in search of peaches recently, you may have been a little perplexed by signs that read “fresh, locally grown donuts”. But if you scroll down your line of sight a little bit you will see that these “Donuts” are not of the Krispy Kreme variety but instead they are extraordinarily shaped peaches. Some people may also refer to them as “Saturn” peaches as this is the name of one of the most popular donut shaped varieties. Though flat peaches were originally cultivated in Asia and brought to Europe and the U.S. around 200 years ago, they fell out of favor for quite some time until the late 1990s when they began to make a comeback as a widely cultivated variety.

Just because the shape may strike you as somewhat odd don’t be afraid to try one because they are quite tasty. Donut peaches have a white flesh and are on the lower acidity side of the spectrum making them very sweet. Currently, in Adams County, Hollabaugh Bros. Fruit Farm and Market has plenty of Donut peaches in stock.

Millions of Peaches

Anybody who was an adolescent or teenager in the mid 90s probably remembers the popular song, “Peaches”, by a band called The Presidents of the United States of America. Now, these men were neither presidents nor farmers, but like many people, they loved peaches hence the repeated lyric “millions of peaches, peaches for me”.

While none of us could actually eat millions of peaches, sometimes it seems like there are millions of different varieties to choose from. Most people think that a peach is a peach and, in the image that they conjure up in their head, the flesh is yellow. However, there are over 2,000 different varieties of peaches separated into 2 main classes: yellow fleshed and white fleshed. Yellow peaches are more acidic and as a result tend to be a bit more tart, especially when firm. White peaches are naturally less tart and less acidic, as a result, they can be eaten when still a bit firm. Within these 2 categories the seasonality and specific flavors can vary greatly. Although they were both excellent, the white peach that I got from Hollabaugh Brothers had a softer skin and was less acidic than the one that I got from Peters Orchard earlier this week which was a bit firmer. And, each week a new variety is ripe, when I asked which varieties of white peaches they had the young lady at Peters Orchard said “last week it was Spring Snow, this week its Sugar May”.

So, take time to try a new variety each week, because before you know it, peach season will be over.

For where to find local peaches check out these sites:

www.acfarmersmarkets.org

agmap.psu.edu