Peaches (and nectarines, which are just a kind of peach with a smoother skin) are credited with starting in China. Even now, there are a very large variety of peach and related fruits there. As in the west, the word "peach" has strong connotations in China (describing as it does, a lush tasty pretty fruit). There are several Chinese folk tales and traditions in which peaches play a pivotal role.
Peach trees do best in places with cold winters (below freezing temperatures) and hot summers. Fruit production is vulnerable to a wide variety of insect pests. The trees nowadays grow most commonly all over China outside of tropical zones, parts of North America (including Canada) and in modern Iran.
The fruit got its English and European names because of how it travelled to the Mediterranean. It came through Persia (now Iran), leading to the scientific name it still hollds today (Prunus persica). Most sources agree that Greeks and Romans were importing and later growing their own peaches by the year 0 (common era). The fruit is not recorded in Britain until the 1600s, though.
Peach trees do best in places with cold winters (below freezing temperatures) and hot summers. Fruit production is vulnerable to a wide variety of insect pests. The trees nowadays grow most commonly all over China outside of tropical zones, parts of North America (including Canada) and in modern Iran.
The fruit got its English and European names because of how it travelled to the Mediterranean. It came through Persia (now Iran), leading to the scientific name it still hollds today (Prunus persica). Most sources agree that Greeks and Romans were importing and later growing their own peaches by the year 0 (common era). The fruit is not recorded in Britain until the 1600s, though.
