The French have a saying: "In summer, it's a sin not to eat a peach". But which peach?

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I have yet to find a supermarket peach that tastes of "peach". They are picked too green, cold-stored too long. The ones at farmers' markets will be truly peach-like, but will still only be varieties that travel well.

The most perfect peaches have white skin and flesh, faintly blushed with red. Even gently placing them on bubble wrap and carrying them to the kitchen means bruises that appear a day later. They must be eaten the same day, or even better, straight from the tree.

My grandmother was of the generation who wore gloves to town, and always ate an apple neatly with a knife and plate. But my favourite memory of her is picking one of the giant white-fleshed peaches of her youth and devouring it, juice running down her chin and hands and dress, with a look of utter bliss.

It is indeed a sin not to eat a peach, even if you need to grow your own in a large pot on a balcony, and haul it with you every time you move. Look for Fragar, Bendigo Beauty or Anzac, bred in 1915 to honour the troops.

If you plan to keep yours in a pot, Dwarf Red Noonan only grows to two metres high and wide. It crops in a ridiculously short time - if you buy a potted one now it may even have a couple of fruit this year, and next year should be an almost certainty. Stake it when you plant it, as the crop is so plentiful the tree may break under the weight.

We live in a time of ridiculous plenty, but most of it has lost its flavour, and texture too.

Corn on the cob tastes of the plastic it's been wrapped in. Peas will be a variety that gives enormous crops prolifically and stores/freezes well. Grow any heritage variety and taste the difference.

I once asked a friend the secret of his dish of carrots. "I boiled them," he said. But those carrots were Paris Market, a heritage variety for connoisseur eating.

This is the time for gourmets to eat extremely well, with........

© Canberra Times