All of these nectarines are ready now. How many can you eat today?
Eating “an apple a day” might “keep the doctor away,” but whoever said this didn’t realize that you can’t just go out to your apple tree and pick one apple each day as we do at our grocery store.
In the United States, we are so fortunate to have so much fresh produce available year-round that we don’t understand what happens when fruit ripens on the tree. We have become so accustomed to the flavor and texture of fresh fruit and vegetables we assume that fresh produce must be better than canned, dried, or frozen.
Valuing our supply of fresh fruit can start with understanding the life cycle of a fruit tree.
Our modern conveniences of refrigeration and humidity-controlled storage have allowed people to forget how fruit grows on the tree. And we don’t appreciate the preservation skills that would enable us to preserve the harvest.
A fruit tree without fruit.
For most of the year, fruit trees provide shade, giving us a cool place to sit in the summer and autumn heat before the leaves fall.
In the winter, pruning the tree to allow light into the canopy is the primary concern. The tree is dormant and doesn’t mind cutting into it.
In the early spring, spraying will help to keep the worms out. There are organic and non-organic sprays for this. Both work effectively. No one likes to talk about them, but no one likes worms in their fruit either.
Thinning comes next. Removing the sacrificial fruit gives the fruit that remains the best chance at becoming large and sweet.
And then we wait for that tree’s time.
There is nothing better than standing at the foot of a tree, picking off a soft, but not too soft peach and sinking your teeth into it. The truth that no one talks about is that there is a short time window when this experience could actually happen.
When it comes to tree fruit, the reality is that all of the fruit ripens at the same time on one tree. It has to be harvested and preserved, or it falls to the ground, and the bugs enjoy it, it rots and is lost, except for its ability to compost and provide nutrients for another generation.
The different varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines, and apples all have a span of about three weeks, for when they are ready to pick.
When a tree comes ripe, the farmer picks the fruit off, and then that tree is done for the year. When you go to the market, the peaches in June are different from those in August. Like the different varieties of apples that all have different names and colors, peaches are different too.
Preserving the harvest.
With the natural lifecycle of a fruit tree production, every culture has a technique for saving the harvest out of necessity. These methods have been part of what sustained civilizations until now. Preserving the harvest was such an instrumental part of life, that in English, the word preserves means both to keep alive, intact, or free from decay and preparing fruit for storage.
When you have a lot of fruit, taking a day off to peel, chop, cook and preserve boxes of fruit, by canning, isn’t feasible. I opt for more passive methods, freezing, drying, and fermenting.
To freeze fruit, just cut out the core or pit and throw into a freezer bag. Use the fruit for smoothies later. The beauty of a blender is that you don’t have to worry about peeling.
If you have a fruit tree, you should own a dehydrator. Dried fruit makes the perfect grab and go snack year-round. And you can use the fruit for baking in the winter as well as eating out of hand. Peel the fruit if desired, cut out the core or pit, and let it sit in the dehydrator at 135 °F for 12–24 hours. At first, you will want to find the amount of time it takes for the fruit to dry, but not to become hard like a rock.
When you truly have too much fruit, ferment it. Yes, the age-old technique of fermentation applies to fruit also. Usually, we call it hard cider or wine. When you make this naturally, it will often turn to vinegar on its own, and you can use it. Remember, if it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it.
Enjoying fruit at its best.
Fresh fruit is a magnificent treat when it is perfectly ripe, but finding that perfect fruit is the exception to the rule. If you have ever taken a bite of fruit and it isn’t quite what you were hoping for, this is because nature doesn’t work to have juicy fruit at the store year-round.
By understanding how the fruit falls from the tree and how to take advantage of what we do have, we can work with nature.
And next summer, we will enjoy that first juicy fruit with more anticipation and excitement.