We asked Dr. Jim Kamas, co-author of Texas Peach Handbook and Texas A&M associate professor, for his take on the perfect Texas peach:
“It’s fresh and mellow—not chewy like candy. It needs to be tree-ripened before it’s picked so it’s not mealy or grainy. The skin retains a lot of tartness—so the skin needs to be not hard to chew like you chew lettuce…
“The stone should be fully free so you don’t have to wrestle with it. In sweetness, it’s really about the sugar-acid balance. In years where we have a lot of rain, that doesn’t dilute the sugar so it’s too sweet…
“In the Hill Country, we can leave the fruit on the trees longer. It allows the peach to accumulate more organic acids…
“In the middle of the season, the Lorings really produce large fruit. They are dependable and stay firm in the box. We can let it ripen to give you the best flavor. The stuff at the grocery stores are picked five days earlier.”
