Let peach be your theme, and may your days be just peachy as you gear up to celebrate National Peach Month this August. The tradition dates back to June 16, 1982, when President Ronald Reagan declared that August would officially be National Peach Month for health and nutritional reasons, no less, which we highly appreciate. Peaches are a rich source of Vitamin A and C and great for the gut too, so it makes perfect sense that President Reagan wanted them to be included in the American diet by promoting peaches through programs and activities all through the month; for there is much to celebrate in a month dedicated to peaches and all that is associated with them. Within this month itself, one can celebrate Eat a Peach Day on August 22 and National Peach Pie Day on August 24, and who doesn’t love a good food holiday? But before you reach for a slice of peach pie or sink your teeth into the fleshy goodness of the fruit itself, take a minute to learn something new about this mouth-watering fuzzy fruit.
The history of the peach can be traced all the way back to ancient China, in 6000 B.C., in the Zhejiang Province. Initially discovered in its wild form, the Chinese domesticated the fruit, and it became a luxury food, eaten by the emperors and served in royal circles only. Somehow, the Persians then got hold of it, and it spread to the Persian Empire, with the Romans terming it the Persian Apple. Thanks to Alexander the Great, Europe then got a taste of this fleshy fruit, and by the 1500s, so did America, as Spanish explorers like Christopher Columbus introduced the fruit on American shores.
Today, China is actually the biggest producer of peaches globally (58%), with Italy following a close second. As for America, peaches are actually the third most popular fruit grown in the nation, and the U.S. supplies about a quarter of the world’s total supply of fresh peaches.
Under The Harvest Moon 