Are you a fan of the peach? Have you ever been complimented as being a peach? Peaches are such an interesting and distinctive fruit. We communicate using different expressions about them, (bruises like a peach, peach-fuzz, or "Will you be a peach and do me a favor?") And I must warn you I am now a days settled in Peach Country. If I drive about a half hour I can see the infamous peach watertower (though honestly it looks a lot more like someone's fanny). My brother and sister-in-law have peach trees so I can honestly say I have had a super fresh peach cobbler. (Delicious!!! by the way). Most people either love peaches or will not go within fifty feet of them. What is super intriguing to me; is that it rarely is the flavor of peaches that turns people off, its that pesky fuzzy layer. Because a peach has that flavor not easily mimicked, its sweet (drippingly so, which is why people rarely peel a peach to eat them), but then most peaches also have a deep sourness to them. The sourness feels like the peach is taking a bite back at you. Well this introduction is to discuss the fruit of the week. I bet you believe I am going to tell you what variety of peaches we sampled, but you would be wrong. We tried a fruit that tastes like a peach but without that pesky fuzz. Did you guess nectarine? Close, Mango Nectarines.
I saw this in the grocery store and knew I had to sample one. Mangoes are delicious and so are nectarines. I am going out a limb but believe that the mango part of the fruit is to describe the color. Otherwise this fruit was all nectarine (which really means it is all peach - because a nectarine is just a peach in a plum's coat). The taste = peach, the smell = peach, the pit = peach, the peel = plum, and the color = sort of mango. It was pretty easy without any knowledge of the fruit to anticipate the ripeness of the fruit by just visual. It starts off as almost a lime green fades into a yellow like a golden apple or almost a super ripe pear. But here's the thing if you go to touch the fruit which has been squeezed, poked, pinched, prodded by thousands of other people you can understand the expression "you bruise like a peach". Because as I tried to pick the best of the best of this fruit I too grabbed and poked at these delicate fruits and then was appalled by how many were literally manhandled. I found several that met my rigorous produce test and was worth my moolah. I will be the first to admit when it comes to produce I am that annoying person who will pick up each fruit and inspect it twice, wipe of false blemishes. Just super OCD about picking out the "right" produce (and half the time I don't really know what qualifies the perfect item, I just go with my gut after squeezing, rattling, sniffing, and eagle-eying the specimen).
We went super easy on the preparation for this fruit. We washed them and then ate them like a snack out of hand. No slicing, no sauteing, no grilling, and no mixing with other ingredients. Simply ate it out of hand and it was good, if you like peaches. My initial couple of bites were very sweet with a lot of juice but then I had two almost bitter bites as I got close to the pit. But if you are looking to try something new or stump your friends this is definitely a good item to pick up. Its summer, what's better than enjoying a simple bite of a juicy fruit.
May your HealthFULL Journey remind you that sometimes enjoying a different perspective reminds us of old loves and simple pleasures. "Til we meet again. . .
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