The sign of a great peach is when, after biting into it, juice runs down your chin. This is the quality that we strive to grow here at DeMeritt Hill Farm. We have several varieties of peaches that we harvest from early August into mid-September. Our New Hampshire peaches can be bought in the farm store. We pick the peaches at the optimum ripeness so you get that tree-ripen flavor in our store without having to go to the orchard.
Fun Facts & Tips
Peach Ripeness:
The flesh of a peach should have a slight give, but use your whole hand vs. fingertips to check since the fruit bruises so easily. Be sure to check for an even coloring of golden or creamy yellow.
Types we grow here
- clingstone (the flesh sticks to the stone)
- freestone (the stone is easily separated from the flesh)
A freestone peach is one where the flesh (mesocarp) separates from the stone (endocarp). When the fruit is cut in half, there is easy separation at the pit and the pit can be removed by hand. It may even fall out if you tip the cut fruit over. Freestone peaches are popular for home canning because their ease of preparation. Clingstone peaches have flesh that clings to the stone. When the fruit is cut in half, it is very difficult to separate the two halves because the flesh is stuck in the pit. For commercial canning of nonmelting flesh clingstone peaches in California, machines are used to cut/separate the fruit.
DeMeritt Hill Farm is a member of the New Hampshire Fruit Growers Association.
