This Doughnut is a Peach
If you’ve been on social media of late, you know that doughnuts are having a spotlight moment. Come July, however, one’s attention is best rewarded by a sweet treat of another stripe: a Jersey-grown doughnut peach.
These luscious fruits hit farm stands once a year, in high summer. Though grown in the US since the early ’90s, they remain rare. Less than 1 percent of the state’s 66-million-pound annual peach crop are doughnuts, according to the New Jersey Peach Promotional Council. In part, that’s because the peaches require more care, from harvesting to packaging. Yet their prime virtue isn’t novelty. They’re less messy. They’re not as fuzzy. They’re sweeter and less acidic. Plus, you can push the pit right out with your finger Fun.
As for the moniker? The flat fruit is shaped more like its name- sake pastry than a scarlet orb. Originally bred in China in the 19th century the peaches flopped when first transplanted here, even in large growing states. (New Jersey ranks fourth in peach production.) Then Joe Goffreda from the Rutgers Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center got involved. Noting an early bloom and susceptibility to late frosts, he developed a heartier version.
The rest was orchard history. Doughnut peaches are now grown all over, but we like to think we have the home-team advantage. Farmer John Hauser of Hauser Hill Farms, whose family has raised orchard fruits in Old Bridge since the 1860s, offers five varieties, selling them at his farm stand, at tailgate markets and at the annual Middlesex County Fair, slated for August 6–12 this year. (Also watch for his early season apples.)
There’s good reason to buy direct. Unlike with wholesale peaches, farmers can delay harvest until the peaches are perfectly ripe. “The longer you leave them on [the tree], they get a little bit more size, they get a lot more color and they get much more juice and sweetness,” Hauser says. He’s partial to the Saturn variety, though lemon-colored TangOs are worth seeking for their pop of tang. Hauser’s tip: Enjoy them straight-up. Or, for what he describes as “an extreme treat,” slice and savor them over ice cream or add them to your summer cocktails. We’re in.
HAUSER HILL FARMS
261 Ticetown Rd., Old Bridge
hauserhillfarms.net
TAKE A BITE
Doughnut peach season runs from mid-July to mid-August.
- Saturn: The original, with sweet, perfumed white flesh.
- Galaxy: Slightly larger than the Saturn.
- Lemon flesh (TangO): A new variety, lemon toned and aromatic.
