Georgia Magazine - June 2020 - 30

GEORGIA Cooks

By Jane F. Garvey

It's peach season!

S

pring announces itself in Georgia
with the emergence of delicate
pink peach blossoms, forerunners of the luscious fruit to come.
Whether white or yellow, the peach
is a drupe, or stone fruit, as are plums,
cherries, nectarines and apricots. For
each of these fruits, the stone (or pit) is
enveloped in the soft, sweet flesh.
While peaches are excellent in
recipes, nothing beats just savoring them
all by themselves.

Georgia's peach production zone is
concentrated in Middle Georgia, along
the Fall Line in Crawford, Macon, Taylor
and Peach counties. This area produces
about 75 percent of the state's total crop
on 1.6 million trees. South Georgia
accounts for about 30 million pounds
each year.
Lane says the forecast for this year's
crop is good, unlike the not-so-good
crops of the last two years.
Chill hours (the number of hours
of cool weather needed for the tree to
set fruit) have been optimal this year, he
says, and that's critical to producing a
good, healthy crop.

Peach blossoms

Peach production
From a high of 8 million bushels
produced in 1928, the Georgia peach
crop "declined to about 2.3 million halfbushels, about 57 million pounds, in
2019," says Duke Lane III, president of
the Georgia Peach Council and a peach
grower at Lane Southern Orchards in
Fort Valley.
Although still nicknamed "The
Peach State," Georgia produces only
about half as many peaches as neighboring South Carolina. Nationally, California
leads in peach production.
Anticipating a brighter peach future,
Lane says there's been an uptick in plantings over the last five years-the first
increase in 20 years.
"We'll have close to 75 million
pounds in 2021-23," he predicts, noting
that it takes five years before a tree yields
fruit.

30

Georgia Magazine

June 2020

Georgia's peaches also influence
other products. In addition to the traditional jams, preserves, syrups and salsas
you find at farmers markets and roadside
stands, Georgia businesses are also
marketing peach-related items.
In Augusta, Yuri Kato's
Georgia Peach Vodka produced by her Fruitland
Augusta business has taken
off nationwide, she says. Mary
Mac's Tea Room in Atlanta
uses this vodka to make its
most popular cocktail-the
Georgia Peach Martini-as
well as its Augusta Lemonade
(see recipe, page 31).
Not far from Albany,
Still Pond Vineyards, Winery & Distillers in Arlington
uses peaches in several of its
products, including a peach
mead, a popular peach-flavored Muscadine wine and peach-flavored vodka and
moonshine.
And in Johns Creek, A&A Alta
Cucina Italia celebrates Georgia's bounty
with its Georgia Peach Balsamic Vinegar,
PEARSON FARM

PEARSON FARM

Peachy products

named a 2020 University of Georgia
Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest
finalist.
Enjoy peach season!
Jane F. Garvey is a food, wine and
travel freelance writer from Decatur.
Georgia Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - June 2020
