Peaches are soft, round fruits with fuzzy skin that feels like velvet when you touch it. That fuzzy coating actually helps protect the peach from bugs and keeps the fruit from losing too much water! Peaches come from China, where people have been growing them for over 4,000 years, and they were once considered a magical fruit that could bring good luck. They are very sweet and incredibly juicy, especially when they are ripe in the warm summertime. If you bite into a really ripe peach, the juice might dribble right down your chin!
Inside every peach, there is a large, bumpy pit that looks kind of like a wrinkly brown brain. That pit has a seed inside that can grow into a whole new peach tree! Peaches belong to the same family as roses, cherries, and almonds, which makes them part of a very sweet and pretty plant family. Peach trees bloom with beautiful pink flowers in the spring before the fruit starts to grow. You can eat peaches fresh, slice them onto cereal, bake them into a warm peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, or grill them for a caramel-sweet summer treat. Georgia is called “The Peach State” because it grows so many delicious peaches!
