Nectarines, peaches and apricots

A really ripe nectarine, peach or apricot, fresh from the tree, and still with a little residual heat from the sun, is a wonderful thing: fragrant, sweet and dripping with juice. Unfortunately, the ones we see in our shops and supermarkets rarely live up to that promise. Most of them will have been picked immature to help them withstand transport, and they will have been refrigerated, which interferes with post-harvest ripening. It can be really challenging to find good ones and few people will be unfamiliar with the shortcomings of bad ones: the tendency to rot rather than ripen and those fudge-textured, juiceless interiors. It’s not surprising that many people lose interest in buying these fruits and see them as a lost cause.

It is possible, though, to find nectarines, peaches and apricots that, although not outstanding, do offer very respectable eating quality. The key here is buying them at the height of the European summer season when they are at their best. Spring and autumn fruits are more of a mixed bag as the grower’s emphasis is on selecting varieties for their ability to extend the season, rather than their eating quality. Imports from further afield, such as the US and South Africa, are almost invariably poor, doubtless a consequence of their lengthy transportation. They may look the part, but very rarely taste it.

Nectarines, which are just smooth-skinned peaches, are generally more reliable for eating quality than either peaches or apricots. White-fleshed varieties of nectarines and peaches are sweeter and more fragrant than the more commonly encountered yellow-fleshed sort, which, though sweet, are considerably more acidic. White-fleshed ‘flat’, ‘doughnut’ or Saturn peaches and nectarines (named after the planet’s rings) are particularly perfumed. Happily, this fragrant type of peach is becoming more available.

Larger nectarines and peaches, sold individually from trays in greengrocers, usually taste better than the smaller sort. A slight ‘give’ under the skin is promising, but even hard fruits, given time, can ripen in a warm room. Small fruits in punnets should be bought hard, removed from the punnet, and left in a single layer to ripen. Nectarines seem to fare better than peaches when sold as small fruits in netted punnets. When buying loose or netted nectarines and peaches, fragrance is the best clue as to whether they will eventually ripen satisfactorily.

Peaches and nectarines sold in more expensive sealed plastic packs of four and labelled as ‘ripe and ready to eat’, are usually an expensive flop. It may sound as if they have ripened fully on the tree, but in fact they are likely simply to be larger fruits, grown to tighter cosmetic standards – often requiring the use of extra chemical treatments – that have been picked immature, refrigerated and then ‘ripened’ with ethylene gas. They may feel soft and not be obviously rotten, but because their development has been arrested by early picking and prolonged refrigeration, they hardly ever ripen properly.

Apricots, like nectarines and peaches, can announce their ripeness with a come-hither fragrance, but for the most part, colour is the best indicator of ripeness. The more orange-red the colour, the better they are likely to taste. They barely ripen once picked so there isn’t much you can do with underripe ones, other than cook them. On the upside, even fairly poor apricots can be quite good cooked because the sharpness of the skins perks up the dull flesh and makes for quite an acceptable taste.

Things to do with nectarines, peaches and apricots

•  Fill stoned fresh peach halves with a mixture of crumbled amaretti biscuits, golden sugar and enough egg yolk to make a paste. Bake in the oven in a buttered dish until the filling is crunchy and slightly set.

•  Butter slices of brioche on both sides, top with sliced ripe peaches or apricots and a generous sprinkling of coarse demerara or Barbados sugar. Bake until the fruit softens and the brioche becomes golden.

•  Cut ripe nectarines or skinned peaches into thick slices or chunks and macerate for an hour or so in Prosecco or other sparkling white wine.

•  As summer desserts go, the classic peach Melba – poached or canned peaches with fresh raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream – takes some beating.

•  Unripe imported apricots make a great winter compote. Just stone and soften them with a little sugar and water in a lidded saucepan; they make a good, tart foil for sweet milky puddings such as baked rice, or potentially cloying meringue.

•  Peaches and apricots are luscious baked into an almond or pistachio frangipane tart.

Are nectarines, peaches and apricots good for me?

Nectarines, peaches and apricots are all good sources of vitamin C, which, among other things, helps keep cells healthy, and beta carotene, which turns into vitamin A in the body and is thought to perform many useful functions including strengthening immunity to infections and helping vision. The deeper orange-coloured the fruit, the more beta-carotene it contains. Apricots are a particularly good source. Nectarines, peaches and apricots also have useful amounts of potassium, which controls fluid balance and helps moderate blood pressure.

Nectarines, peaches and apricots are a category of fruit that is particularly bad for containing pesticide residues, so you may want to consider buying organic. Government tests have shown that almost all samples, unless organic, contain residues of at least one, and up to six different pesticides. Pesticides are toxins and exposure to them is best kept to a minimum.

How are nectarines, peaches and apricots grown?

Nectarines, peaches and apricots are tree fruits and harvested by hand. Most of the European nectarines and peaches we eat come from France, Spain, Italy and, to a lesser extent, Greece. France is also the main summertime source of apricots, although a small number of English apricots, from Kent, are now coming on to the market. The breeding of new self-fertilizing varieties of apricot trees, combined with warmer English weather, has made apricot production in the UK commercially viable. Outside summer, most imported stone fruits come from South Africa, the US and Chile.

Are nectarines, peaches and apricots a green choice?

Nectarine, peach and apricot trees absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere, which makes their fruits a sustainable, environmentally friendly crop. These orchard trees provide a wildlife-friendly habitat. Their roots also help stabilize the soil and prevent soil erosion.

Eating nectarines, peaches and apricots that come from outside Europe is a bad idea, since this inevitably means thousands of environmentally destructive food miles which leaves a heavy carbon footprint. And for what? They are rarely worth eating. The fact of the matter is that if you live in northern Europe, these are fruits to be eaten only in summer.

When should I buy nectarines, peaches and apricots?

Spanish, Greek, Italian and French nectarines, peaches and apricots are in season from June until September. The first two are at their peak in July and August, the latter in June and July. Imports from outside Europe are on sale at other times.

Will nectarines, peaches and apricots break the bank?

Buying supposedly ‘ripe and ready’ nectarines, peaches and apricots is one sure way to burn money. If you are strapped for cash, netted punnets of smaller nectarines are the best buy.

Peaches survive the canning process beautifully. Tinned peaches may not seem so upmarket but they will often taste much better than their fresh equivalent, and they are considerably cheaper. Tinned apricots can be pretty good too. These stone fruits are the exception to the rule that fresh is best.

FRUITS FOR A SHELTERED SUNNY SPOT

We think of peaches, nectarines and apricots as fruits that must always be imported, yet we used to be obsessive about growing them. Apricots, known as the ‘hasty peach’ because it ripens earlier, were documented in English gardens in the early sixteenth century. From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, well-to-do, aristocratic gentlemen would devote prodigious amounts of energy to growing peaches and apricots, or, more accurately, having their gardeners grow them, as these trophy fruits were so highly prized for their exquisite perfume and delectable sweet flesh. They were cultivated in glasshouses and conservatories or along walls, or shaped into a zig-zag ‘serpentine wall’ to catch the heat. Perhaps it’s time to revisit our early reverence for peach and apricot. They will produce fruit outdoors in the milder south of England, and even fruit further north in a warm conservatory, or in a sheltered sunny spot. Who knows, perhaps with global warming, there might be a future for growing more of them in these isles.