Peaches, almost more than any other fruit, should only be eaten when perfectly ripe. Unfortunately, their flesh bruises easily, so they don’t travel well. As a result many of the peaches we buy here have been picked while still hard, and even when they do soften up, much of the flavour and perfume is lost. A ripe peach has a beautiful bloom and fragrance. When cut in half, the flesh comes easily away from the stone and exudes juice.
We buy white peaches from Italy whenever we can get them. Quite a few varieties arrive in July. A new, odd and particularly delicious variety, Saturna, is flatter with tiny stones, and an almondy perfume; it is very good to use when making sorbets and ice-creams. The white peach Perrigrin grows in Britain, and it is exquisite, as is the white nectarine Lord Napier. Yellow-fleshed peaches rarely taste so good, but Rochester, an English variety that grows well in warm, protected situations, is very good.
Vanilla sugar and lemon juice both bring out the flavour of duller peaches.