Mid Pride Peach Harvest, 2012
It's a 4th of July peach. A peach for a 4th of July peach pie. And, it tastes fantastic.
When I was choosing trees for the front orchard, I read and heard very mixed reviews of Mid Pride: it's pretty but it doesn't taste like much, it's fantastic with a balanced tang-sweet flavor, it's no good because it is too tangy, you won't believe how well it produces, and so on. Eva's Pride was an easy early choice because of its glowing reviews, but for a second, later-season peach that produced well in Southern California and tasted great, it was a tough call. I don't know what made me decide on Mid Pride; maybe it was just that Trees of Antiquity, one of my favorite bare root sources, carried it. I am, however, very glad I did plant it.
I'm about 3/4 of the way through the harvest this year, and since they've begun to ripen, I've had enough to eat a peach whenever I felt like eating a peach, to give some away, to make a batch of peach fruit leather for my brother, and for two generously proportioned peach pies.
This is a perfect pie peach. Though it becomes tender and candy-like, it holds its shape while baking. A true freestone, the fruit releases the pit immediately when sliced in two. The color is of the flesh is a clear orange with few streaks or blemishes. And, in slicing, it doesn't brown—I didn't add any lemon or citric acid as I was slicing, but the fruit kept its gorgeous golden color. I can imagine making very nice canned peaches with this variety.
Though this is not a slurp-over-the-sink peach like Eva's Pride, it is a fruit to eat more slowly and thoughtfully. It is sweet, slightly citrusy, a little mango-y, and it is heart-shaped with a cute little nipple-end.
Tree Details:
When I was choosing trees for the front orchard, I read and heard very mixed reviews of Mid Pride: it's pretty but it doesn't taste like much, it's fantastic with a balanced tang-sweet flavor, it's no good because it is too tangy, you won't believe how well it produces, and so on. Eva's Pride was an easy early choice because of its glowing reviews, but for a second, later-season peach that produced well in Southern California and tasted great, it was a tough call. I don't know what made me decide on Mid Pride; maybe it was just that Trees of Antiquity, one of my favorite bare root sources, carried it. I am, however, very glad I did plant it.
I'm about 3/4 of the way through the harvest this year, and since they've begun to ripen, I've had enough to eat a peach whenever I felt like eating a peach, to give some away, to make a batch of peach fruit leather for my brother, and for two generously proportioned peach pies.
This is a perfect pie peach. Though it becomes tender and candy-like, it holds its shape while baking. A true freestone, the fruit releases the pit immediately when sliced in two. The color is of the flesh is a clear orange with few streaks or blemishes. And, in slicing, it doesn't brown—I didn't add any lemon or citric acid as I was slicing, but the fruit kept its gorgeous golden color. I can imagine making very nice canned peaches with this variety.
Though this is not a slurp-over-the-sink peach like Eva's Pride, it is a fruit to eat more slowly and thoughtfully. It is sweet, slightly citrusy, a little mango-y, and it is heart-shaped with a cute little nipple-end.
Tree Details:
- Mid Pride, a Zaiger introduction, has been in the ground at this property since early 2010.
- It is on Nemaguard rootstock.
- It is heavily mulched, and during the warm months, watered twice a week on a drip system.
- This is its second crop. (Last year, the grand total of fruits from the tree was ONE! Yup! So much better this year.)
Comments
Michelle: Thank you. I am trying to write them up so there is the type of information out there I was looking for when I was choosing trees. I think the deep mulching is the secret to my trees' health and productivity. The plums I have weren't mulched until this fall, and this is the first year they're even really growing much, but the peaches have been mulched deeply (with repeat applications) since their first autumn, so they've had lots of time to benefit from it.