ISSUE 86, LOST FRUITS WORTH FINDING, Part 3: 8 Vanished Peaches
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Alexander Peach, USDA Pomological Watercolor CollectionFoodlore & More is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Vanished Peaches Certain of a greatest historical varieties of peaches have vanished from the pomological collections of the world and from the variety lists of commercial nurseries. Perhaps they still survive on the landscape somewhere—in the backlots of old farmsteads, in widow orchards, in the collector groves that were once common in the South. While many old varieties have passed into disuse and into memory, often their obsolescence was warranted. Vulnerabilities to disease, to pests, to inherent genetic weaknesses have made them too troublesome to tend. Other old varieties were created because they ripened very early or late in the season—in May {The Sneed Peach] or in late October [Albright’s Late]—not because they tasted rich, juicy, melting, and sweet. Yet there were a dozen or so peach varieties, once immensely popular in the United States, and particularly the South, that have passed on despite their being superlative in taste, in texture, and in ease of cultivation.
ISSUE 86, LOST FRUITS WORTH FINDING, Part 3: 8 Vanished Peaches
ISSUE 86, LOST FRUITS WORTH FINDING, Part 3…
ISSUE 86, LOST FRUITS WORTH FINDING, Part 3: 8 Vanished Peaches
Alexander Peach, USDA Pomological Watercolor CollectionFoodlore & More is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Vanished Peaches Certain of a greatest historical varieties of peaches have vanished from the pomological collections of the world and from the variety lists of commercial nurseries. Perhaps they still survive on the landscape somewhere—in the backlots of old farmsteads, in widow orchards, in the collector groves that were once common in the South. While many old varieties have passed into disuse and into memory, often their obsolescence was warranted. Vulnerabilities to disease, to pests, to inherent genetic weaknesses have made them too troublesome to tend. Other old varieties were created because they ripened very early or late in the season—in May {The Sneed Peach] or in late October [Albright’s Late]—not because they tasted rich, juicy, melting, and sweet. Yet there were a dozen or so peach varieties, once immensely popular in the United States, and particularly the South, that have passed on despite their being superlative in taste, in texture, and in ease of cultivation.