‘Saturn’ Peaches

Enlarge Image Image Gallery ‘Saturn’ peaches have white flesh and are far better-tasting than other peach varieties. WILLIAM D. ADAMS

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Old-time Chinese orchardists treated peaches with such reverence that they could be planted only within the royal precincts of the emperor. Their peaches were classified in one of two ways: golden (yellow flesh) or silver (white flesh). To the tribe of rare silver peaches belongs the mouthwatering peento (originally pan tao), the intensely flavored and odd-shaped peach we now know in the United States as the ‘Saturn’ peach. (Most U.S. peaches are yellow-fleshed varieties.) Low in acidity, much sweeter than yellow peaches and with almond overtones, ‘Saturn’ peaches simply taste better than other varieties. Plus, they’re easier to eat out of hand. The tiny pit doesn’t cling to the white flesh — you can pop it out with your thumb. Furthermore, ‘Saturn’ peach trees produce an abundant harvest, and the fruit’s thin red skin has little or no fuzz so it doesn’t have to be peeled.

Because of its unusual flattened shape, this peach is sometimes called the ‘Doughnut’ peach. Many supermarkets package the flat peaches in long boxes like those used for doughnuts, and market them as a good-for-you snack food.

The Frost-Hardy Peach

This peach emerged in south China at least 200 years ago, and the tree was so tender that it could be grown only in a few places outside of its original habitat. However, the Rutgers Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center at Cream Ridge, N.J., changed that. The original Chinese peach was not cold-hardy enough to grow in New Jersey, not even in the counties well known for peach culture. So the breeders at Rutgers, through a long process of trial and error, selected out a strain of peento with frost-resistant buds. This is critical because the tree blooms early — even before many cherry trees — and the masses of fluffy pink flowers make a spectacular show that rivals the most ornamental cherry trees.

This resistance to late frosts is what distinguishes the ‘Saturn’ peach from its parent, and why it was given a new name. The name refers to the fruit’s resemblance to the rings of Saturn. And now the peach is spawning a raft of stranger nicknames that may create confusion at the supermarket. For example, the yellow-fleshed version of the ‘Saturn’ peach is called ‘Sweet Bagel,’ and a very large-fruited ‘Saturn’ peach has come out with the name ‘Jupiter’ peach. Maybe this exotic peach deserves something a little more poetic — old Chinese poetry includes more romantic names such as Moonlight Kiss and Morning Dew.

Rutgers released the original ‘Saturn’ peach about 15 years ago to Stark Bro’s Nurseries and Orchards Co., which was licensed to propagate the tree and sell it commercially. Now that the license has expired, many other growers are offering it, and that’s why we are beginning to see this peach in stores across the country. The ‘Saturn’ peach also is popular in the United Kingdom and other parts of the European Union.

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