August is National Peach Month, thanks to Ronald Reagan.

In 1982 Congress and the President united to approve Proclamation 4947 – designating August National Peach Month. Reagan called upon US citizens to “incorporate this nutritious fruit into their diets.”

The peach is actually native to China. Something Georgians may not know is that the scientific name for peach, persica, came about because the fruit was believed to hail from Persia, modern day Iran.

The fruit has a delicate aroma, yellow or whitish flesh, and a velvety skin. It’s classified as a stone fruit, along with plums and apricots.

In Atlantan terms, it’s delish.

Peaches have been elevated to the level of the divine by many who’ve tasted them.

In the song I Do Not Know Its Name by Carrie Newcomer that is a ‘hymn to mystery and the mysterious’, she compares the eating of a peach to something holy:

" We were eating summer peaches by a roadside stand,
Juice running down like laughter on our chin and on our hands

I do not know its name
No matter how I try
But I think it must taste like peaches eaten by the roadside "

To celebrate the month, eat as many peaches as you can. Peaches in the raw, peach ice cream, peach cobbler, peach smoothies, peach milkshakes, anything peach. If you need more ideas, check out this recipe for peaches and cream bars – yum. 

Enjoy! 

Check out Carrie Newcomer here and the lyrics to I Do Not Know Its Name below: