Posts Tagged “New Jersey peaches”
by The New Jersey Peach Promotion Council
Sharpen up your senses, New Jersey peaches have hit the market, and is there anything closer to heavenly than a perfect peach? Bounteous supplies are available this season, with near-perfect color and sweetness; you can hardly find more delicious …and they’re nutritious — like dessert with health benefits.
Jersey-grown peaches are being celebrated with peach events and peach pie contests at community farmers markets, on-farm markets, restaurants and supermarkets. So, come on, get going and get lots. They’re only in season from late June through mid-September.
“The weather gods shone on us this year,” says Santo John Maccherone, chair, New Jersey Peach Promotion Council and a major south Jersey grower. “My crop is coming in very strong, I’ve started picking and public demand is healthy. It’s very rewarding to have people expressing appreciation for a product.”
At Holtzhauser Farms in Mullica Hill, the first two varieties of yellow (Desiree and Early Star) and white (Spring Snow and Manon) peaches are being picked, and Tom Holtzhauser is packing overtime to meet public demand, smiling all the while. His crop was decimated last year by frost. “I started picking June 20th, and customers are lining up to get my peaches,” he says. “My hours are 8am -6pm, and even at 6pm, I have customers waiting.” Holtzhausers grows 30 peach varieties and sells mainly retail from his farm.
Ron Thomas of Sunny Slope Farm in Hopewell is also a happy grower. “Our crop is clean, sweet, pretty and perfumes the air,” he says. We have a full crop and so far, no thunder storms have knocked fruit off the trees.” He’s picking and selling Sentry yellow variety now, and will have more varieties in a couple weeks.
At Melick Town Farms in Oldwick/Califon, pick-your-own peaches will be available July 4th, “Aand there are plenty,” says John Melick. “Our peaches look wonderful this season, as compared to last year when we had a thin crop. We’ll have more than enough for the entire season, through Labor Day and beyond,”
Gary Mount of Terhune Orchards in Princeton says they began picking yellow and white varieties. “We have a terrific crop” he says. Our early yellows, Flamin Fury, are some of the best.”
Demarest Farms in Hilldale has a bountiful, flavorful crop of yellow and white varieties, with pick-your-own starting the last week of July.
Greg Donaldson of Donaldson’s Farms in Hackettstown concurs with growers throughout the state. “A warm January and February delayed ripening,” says Greg, “which encouraged large and flavorful fruit.”
Jersey peaches come in yellow-flesh, white-flesh and flat/doughnut varieties. They’re rich in nutrients, each peach contains Vitamin A (570 IU per peach): orange-yellow skin indicates large amounts of beta-carotene Potassium (333 mg per peach, Fiber (2.6 grams per peach), magnesium, calcium, vitamin C and more – all packed into just 60 calories.
They’re sweetened by natural sugar, and packed with vital nutrients (Vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium fiber and more) — like dessert with health benefits. They’re also low in calories (just 60 in a medium-size peach), no saturated fats and packed with …But don’t just associate them with dessert; they’re great in green salads, cooked with pork, chicken and fish, even in chili.
The following calendar shows special peach events currently. Additional events will be added as they are planned. The calendar and other peach information can be found on www.jerseypeaches.com and facebook.com/newjerseypeaches. Watch for Jersey Peach ads on facebook’s News Feed page.
by The New Jersey Peach Promotion Council
GLASSBORO, NJ — Other than a mild February which forced apricots and some plum varieties to bloom early, most New Jersey peaches experienced a cool and relatively normal winter.
“While our peaches and nectarines bloomed about ten days early we have not had sub-freezing temperatures to injure peach flowers and fruit”, said Santo John Maccherone, owner of Circle M Farms in Salem, chair of the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council(NJPPC) and president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. “My crop is mostly heavy except for a block of the late yellow-fleshed peach Jerseyqueen and some white-fleshed nectarine varieties.” He emphasized that crop development is running about ten days earlier than 2016 and he expects to be picking and marketing his first peaches in late June.
“We have a full crop of fruit this year” said Tom Holtzhauser, operator of Holtzhauser Farms on Woodland Avenue in Mullica Hill. “Last year we were badly hurt by spring temperatures and our crop was nonexistent,” Mr. Holtzhauser, a director of the NJPPC sells a wide variety of peaches white and yellow fleshed, and flat peaches both retail at his farm market and wholesale to various restaurants and farm market buyers.
“Most growers in southern New Jersey have started to thin off their heavy crop at this time,” stated Jerry Frecon, technical and horticultural consultant to the NJPPC, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and a retired peach specialist.. “A few growers were brave enough to even thin blossoms with mechanical and string thinners. Brave because there is always a high probability of low temperature injury during bloom so thinning at this time can be very risky.” He said most growers are thinning off small fruit by hand and with mechanical aids.
Recent statistics published by the NJ Peach Promotion Council estimate that NJ growers are producing about 5500 acres of peaches and nectarines and should harvest between 55 and 60 million pounds of fruit in 2017. “We are always optimistic at this time of the year,” said Maccherone, “but we still have a long way until we pick and market the fruit, and lots of things can happen.”
The New Jersey Peach Promotion Council is a non-profit voluntary organization of growers, shippers, wholesalers and associated industries dedicated to maintaining a viable peach industry in the Garden State for the purpose of preserving farmers and farmland; and to providing the highest quality and best tasting fresh peaches for consumers.
New Jersey is the fourth largest peach producing state in the country, with approximately 80 orchards on 5,000 acres.
Photo: Courtesy Vidalia® Onion Committee
Shipments of New Jersey-grown peaches should get underway in early July, a little later than last year. Good quality and quantity are being predicted, with loadings lasting through mid-September. More volume is seen this season since some trees planted three to five years ago are coming into production. (more…)