Keen on Peaches: A Festival in Mullica Hill

The New Jersey Peach Festival at the Gloucester County Fairgrounds puts the luscious fruit in the spotlight.

Peaches
Courtesy of the New Jersey Peach Festival.

Georgia may be the Peach State, but in summer New Jersey can make a strong claim to peachiness.
The luscious fruit seizes the spotlight at the 31st annual New Jersey Peach Festival, July 25 to 28 at the Gloucester County Fairgrounds in Mullica Hill. Held concurrently with the county’s 4-H Fair, the festival features a panoply of peaches, in ice cream, water ice, pies, slushies, coffee cake, jams and jellies. A bake-off will be held, likely to result in such creations as peach dip and peach sauce, says Angela Stanwood, head of this year’s contest.

Peaches play a plum role in the state’s economy. “New Jersey is currently fourth in the nation in peach production, producing 30,000 tons valued at $39.6 million,” says Lynne Richmond, public information officer for the state Department of Agriculture. Peaches rank second to blueberries in value among the state’s fruit crops; Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem counties are the hotbeds of Jersey peach production.

While peaches have been harvested in the state since the 17th century, today’s peaches are not your grandfather’s fuzzy fruit. “We’re always introducing new varieties,” says Dean Polk, an entomologist with Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, which is part of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.

Modern-day peaches are bred to be bigger and more resistant to pests and disease. Garden State varieties include the Raritan Rose and the Jersey Queen.

At times, peaches can be problematic. “Some peaches [are] too soft to ship,” says Santo John Maccherone of Circle M Fruit Farms in Harrison and Mannington. About a decade ago, Maccherone, president of the Peach Promotion Council, developed peach cider and salsa rather than throw out fruit that didn’t meet his standards.

Both products clicked with consumers. “The only way you know it works,” says Maccherone, “is if they give you money.”

Admission for the 4-H Fair and Peach Festival is $10 per car. Visit gloucester.njaes.rutgers.edu/fairfest/ for information.

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