Recipe: Italian Peach Granita

Hi! I'm Peach!

"Did you know I'm related to almonds, apricots, cherries, and plums? We're all part of the Rose family! You may know my cousin, Nectarine, who has smooth skin compared to my fuzzy skin. We're both juicy and delicious summer fruits that are wonderful to eat whole or sliced and added to fruit salads and ice cream! 

History & Etymology

• Archeological evidence points to the peach's domestication in China as early as 6000 BCE.
• In China, peaches are considered a symbol of good luck, protection, longevity, and friendship and are found in many Chinese paintings, poetry, and on porcelain as far back as 551 BCE.
• China is the biggest producer of peaches worldwide, and Italy is the second largest.
• Columbus brought several peach trees to America on his second and third voyages.
• Spanish monks established the first peach orchard in Florida in the mid-1500s.
• Georgia, also known as the Peach State, has many peach orchards, although California produces about 50 percent of all peaches in the USA.
• Georgia claims it makes the "world's largest peach cobbler" at the annual Georgia Peach Festival. It measures 11 feet by 5 feet and uses 75 gallons of Georgia peaches. 
• The Guinness World Record for the largest fruit cobbler is a 2,251-pound peach cobbler made by Hampton Inn of Ruston, Louisiana, for the Louisiana Peach Festival in 2015. It used 819 gallons of peaches!
• The peach is the official state fruit of both Georgia and South Carolina.
• The word "peach" comes from late Middle English, from the Old French "pesche," from the medieval Latin "persica," from the Latin "persicum." These European derivations came from the belief that peaches originated in Persia (modern-day Iran). In fact, the scientific name for peach, "Prunus persica," means "Persian plum."

Anatomy

• The peach is a member of the Rosaceae family and a close relative of almonds.
• Peaches are stone fruit related to apricots, cherries, and plums. They have soft, fuzzy, pinkish-yellow skin, and their flesh can vary from almost white-yellow to almost red. Each peach has a pointed, furrowed, egg-shaped seed in the middle, which either comes away easily (freestone) or is difficult to remove (clingstone).
• A nectarine is a variety of peach that has smooth skin. Its skin is usually redder, and its flesh can be either white or yellow. 

How to Pick, Buy, & Eat

• It is an ideal snack between meals—eating a peach can give you the feeling of being full, so you will eat less, which is great for losing weight. An average peach contains about 35 to 50 calories and an insignificant amount of fat.
• Peaches are best from June to the end of August.
• A ripe peach will smell sweet and have a slight give when pressed, but squeeze very gently since the fruit bruises easily. It should be dark yellow with no green and have a round shape.
• If a peach is not ripe when bought from the store, it will ripen at home if you leave it on a counter at room temperature. Refrigerate peaches to slow their ripening. 
• Peaches are a great snack fruit to eat whole, but you can also add sliced or cubed fresh peaches to hot or cold cereal, fruit salads, cakes, pies, cobblers, and ice cream. You might even try cutting them in half and grilling them.

Nutrition

• Peaches are a moderate source of vitamin C, which helps your body heal and boosts immunity against disease. They also provide small quantities of vitamin E, niacin, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals. 
• Potassium helps maintain proper fluid levels inside cells, which helps maintain blood pressure. It also aids proper muscle function.
• Yellow-fleshed peaches also supply some beta-carotene that converts to vitamin A in the body, which is good for eye health.
• The dietary fiber in peaches aids digestion, and antioxidants help to protect cells by preventing oxidation.