Botanically named after Persia, the peach actually originated in China and was carried elsewhere in the world through Persia, today's Iran. Carried for example, to the Romans, who seem to have had every Eastern hemisphere food available on command.

The peach was revered by the Chinese who thought it conferred immortality on those who ate it. Curiously the peach tree itself is very shortlived, about 20 years. Introduced into the Americas by the Spanish, the peach quickly became a favorite among native Americans who were growing it well before most of the colonists got around to planting peach trees. Long identified with Georgia, the Peach State, the peach remains a temperate climate fruit of short season, that bruises easily, and is thus eagerly anticipated each summer and appreciated for its sweet, warm taste.

Vincent Can Gogh's painting, "Flowering Peach Tree," 1888.
Original in the Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands.

Chinese porcelain figure of man holding peach.
Statues like these are exchanged by friends as a sign of affection.

Ointment from Thailand shows a monkey holding a peach.

Georgia license plate t-shirt from 1991.

1907 Raphael Tuck postcard reads "Dear heart, what a 'peach' you are."

Kerr Home Canning Book booklet illustration, 1946.

"Many centuries ago people discovered the importance of preserving food from one season to another. Food is more important today than ever before. Knowledge of food and its preservation is an important part of homemaking. Every alert homemaker is anxious to make the most effective use of the products from vegetable gardens and fruit orchards. Good food and plenty of it, is the first step toward maintaining good health. Home canning is the answer to this problem. It extends the season around the calendar and makes fruits and vegetables which are so essential in the daily diet available in December as well as in July."

---The How and Why of Canning by Zella Hale Weyant, 1946.

Click here to visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation.