Red-fleshed Peaches

Rare & Heritage Fruit Cultivars #8

C. Thornton

Red-fleshed peaches are far rarer than the white-fleshed or yellow-fleshed types. In some countries they are almost impossible to find.

How they spread from China to other parts of the world is an interesting story, partially shrouded in mystery.
Their colour sets these fruits apart – the deep ruby shade of their flesh make them spectacular additions to recipes. Their flavour, too, is unique.


Moreover, red-fleshed peaches have numerous health benefits. Rich in antioxidant anthocyanins and flavonoids, they possess qualities that both heal and protect the human body.

This book is one of a series written for ‘backyard farmers’ of the 21st century. It focuses on rare and heritage fruit in Australia, although it includes much information of interest to fruit enthusiasts around the world.

‘Heritage’ or ‘heirloom’ fruits such as old-fashioned varieties of apple, quince, fig, plum, peach and pear are increasingly popular due to their diverse flavours, excellent nutritional qualities and other desirable characteristics. They are the legacy of our ancestors; living heirlooms, part of humanity’s horticultural, vintage and culinary inheritance. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries fruit diversity was huge, but in modern supermarkets only a limited range of commercial fruit varieties is available to consumers.

To pick a tree-ripened heritage fruit from your own back yard and bite into it is to experience the taste of fresh food as our forefathers knew it.

Heritage, heirloom and rare fruit enthusiasts across the world are now reviving our horticultural legacy by renovating old orchards and identifying ‘lost’, unusual and historic fruit varieties. The goal is to make a wide range of unique fruit trees available again to the home gardener.

This series of handbooks aims to help.