The triple digit days of summer took their time to arrive this year, but when they did there was no question about it: We are in the middle of summertime! Since mid-July, we’ve been out in our orchards before the crack of dawn to harvest our prized Peaches and Nectarines. Yes, it’s hot and it’s hard work but it’s a total labor of love.
If you’ve been reading our newsletters for a while you may recall that our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches are grown in an estate orchard that’s been in our family since 1987. We grow several varieties of Peaches but the relatively uncommon Angelus variety won our hearts over because of its unbelievable flavor, texture, aroma, sweetness and blushy-peachy hue. We say this Peach delivers! You may also remember some of our past articles about thinning. This practice entails removing up to 80 percent of the tiny fruitlets at the beginning of the season so that when harvest time hits, what we get are huge fruits that we think border on perfection! All of this thinning is done by hand and if you were to happen by this orchard during this process, don’t be surprised to see Victor doing some of that work with his own hands! That’s part of the labor of love.
It may come across as boasting a bit, and we guess we are…but when we think about these outstanding Peaches we are extra pleased ‘cause they’re pretty much the cream of the crop when it comes to Peach production. You may appreciate knowing that California is the top producer of peaches in the United States, easily taking first place over South Carolina and Georgia. And Stanislaus County is where a lot of California’s Peach-growing action takes place. Besides the volume of this sun-kissed crop we thank Mother Nature and the Bella Viva Orchards team for making this a superior quality fruit, as well. Yep, we’re proud!
As we harvest our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches and our Certified Organic White Nectarines we think of how quickly the time has gone by since our family has grown these sweet summer fruits.
Recently Victor got to reminiscing: “My obsession with Peaches started many decades ago. I was born in February and my parents took me to our family home in the middle of our Peach orchard. By August, they set me in a Peach crate under the Peach trees while my mother, father and four older siblings tended to the harvest. Later in the day after the fruit had been picked they moved me in that Peach crate to the cutting shed where the freshly-picked fruits were cut in half, treated with a generous helping of sulfur dioxide and then laid out in the sun to dry."
"Fast forward six plus decades, I’m still out in the orchard watching over the whole process, from tending to the trees to harvesting that fruit to drying our awesome Peaches. My passion for growing and drying the perfect Peach has led to many improvements and innovations over the decades. For years I was on a quest to find the perfect variety of Peach. After growing and removing dozens of varieties the Angelus variety made its way to the top of the list. Once I determined that the Angelus was my variety of choice I went to work on getting rid of all those nasty pesticides by becoming a certified organic grower. I believe that when it comes to thinking of my greatest Peach achievements, I’d say that I’m proud of developing and perfecting our proprietary process of drying Peaches without sulfur dioxide or any preservatives whatsoever while maintaining the fruit’s natural color, flavor and nutritional content."
"I proudly invite you to take some of our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches home and see what I’m talking about!" --Victor Martino.
We hope that what Victor has shared makes you hungry for our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches even more. The same goes for our Certified Organic White Nectarines. These are two of our favorites every summer. Besides being two quintessential summer fruits they’re so good for you and they taste great! We invite you to bring some healthy summertime goodness into your world by taking advantage of this month’s web specials: Pick up any quantity of Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Dried Yellow Peach Slices for 25 percent off, or $12.74 per pound and our Certified Organic Dried White Nectarines for 25 percent off, or $11.01 per pound! We couldn’t stop there, though! To celebrate summer and organic growing practices we’re offering our Certified Organic Roasted Salted Pistachios (shell on), Dried Persimmons, Dried Pitted Prunes, Walnuts (shelled) and Thompson Seedless Raisins for 10% off any quantity!
So kick back at the end of your own hot day, put your feet up, dive into some of our Certified Organic Peaches and Nectarines - and more goodies - and soak in all the warm joy that summer has to offer, friends!
