It’s summertime! Which means fresh produce is in abundance. I love a ripe, juicy peach from the Farmers Market, but on a recent trip to Mariano’s, I saw they had donut peaches.
After an informal Snapchat story poll, everyone agreed that these are worthy to be on the donut blog so I bought a few. These peaches are flatter than a traditional peach. In my opinion, they look like those little tiny pumpkins you can buy in the fall. But “donut peach” sounds better than “pumpkin peach.”
So, what is a donut peach? I investigated.
According to this article from The Guardian, this species of peach was originally grown in China and was introduced to the United States in the 1800’s. Originally called “flat peaches”, the Mandarin phrase for these is Pan Tao (蟠桃).
Specialty Produce says, “The sweetness is due to what is referred to as the honey gene, a dominant gene that is found in all Chinese peach varieties.” Other names for this fruit are “Chinese peach” and “Saturn peach.”
No matter what you call this fruit, it is delicious. I truly enjoyed eating these. I want to go back and buy more so I can make this Grilled Watermelon Salad with Donut Peaches. This is the only time you’ll see the word “donut” and “salad” in the same sentence on this blog!
Donut Daze 