the.com/peach
a fruit so soft it bruises if you look at it wrong, yet survives millennia of cultivation
means A round, fuzzy-skinned stone fruit with sweet juicy flesh, prized for its delicate flavor and softness — and used affectionately to call a person or thing especially lovely.
from From Latin 'persicum,' short for 'malum persicum' — the 'Persian apple' — because Romans believed the fruit came from Persia, though it had actually traveled there along ancient trade routes from China, its true homeland. The Latin 'persica' softened through Old French 'pesche' into Middle English 'peche,' losing its geography along the way: a fruit named for a country it never started in.
- origin
- Domesticated in China over 7,500 years ago
- family
- Close cousin to almonds and cherries
- fuzz
- Tiny hairs deter insects and slow water loss
- slang
- Old term for an admirable, delightful person
- georgia
- State fruit despite California growing far more
georgia peaches — the state produces 40,000 tons annually and has been famous since the 1800s
south carolina peaches — the palmetto state's official state fruit, grown commercially since the 1800s in the midlands
freestone peaches california — central valley produces the majority of us peaches, especially freestone varieties for fresh market