Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site emacs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!qantel!dual!ucbvax!decvax!cca!emacs!joe From: joe@emacs.UUCP (Joe Chapman) Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Re: Nectarine vs. Peach Message-ID: <101@emacs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 18-Sep-85 10:01:20 EDT Article-I.D.: emacs.101 Posted: Wed Sep 18 10:01:20 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 07:03:56 EDT References: <1154@mtgzz.UUCP> <1159@wucs.UUCP> Organization: Uniworks Inc., Wellesley, MA Lines: 33 ``These stone fruits, or drupes, all come from a single genus in the rose family, Prunus, and contain a large seed surrounded by a hard coat composed mostly of lignin. [...] The peach was brought to Europe in Roman times, and is now grown primarily in the United States, South Africa, and Australia. There are two main varieties of peach: freestone and clingstone; their names describe how easily the fruit is separated from the stone. Pectic substances (part of the cell wall cement) become much more soluble in the freestone during ripening than they do in the cling. Freestones have almost disappeared from the market today because cling peaches are firmer, easier to transport, and more deeply colored (the orange pigment in apricots and peaches is a precursor of vitamin A). The dry, mealy, ``wooly'' texture of some supermarket peaches is caused by picking the fruit early and putting it into cold storage for two weeks or more; this treatment reduces the level of enzymes that convert insoluble protopectin into soluble pectin. ``The nectarine is a fuzzless variety of peach, and this is the major difference, although nectarines also tend to be smaller. The fuzzy trait is genetically dominant. Nectarines and peaches can develop from each other spontaneously as mutations from seed or as bud sports.'' In consideration of Usenet telephone charges, I'd normally hesitate before quoting in extenso like this, but if you haven't got a copy of Harold McGee's ``On Food and Cooking'' (which I've quoted above) I hope to have whetted your appetite; it's published by Scribner's and well worth the $29.95 price tag. -- -- Joseph Chapman decvax!cca!emacs!joe CCA Uniworks, Inc. joe@cca-unix.ARPA 20 William St. Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 235-2600 Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com