How Peaches Are Different From Nectarines
Peaches and nectarines look and taste almost alike. That’s why it often seems to us that they are the same fruit. To some extent, our intuition is right: there are really many similarities between these two.
5-Minute Crafts is telling you what a peach and a nectarine is and how different they are from each other.
Peach
Peach (Lat. Prunus persica) is a deciduous tree that belongs to the genus Prunus in the rose family. Also, the peach is a close relative of almonds. They belong to the same subgenus Amygdalus due to their similarities in the corrugated seed shell.
Normally peaches are sold from the end of April till October. There are many types of this fruit that come in an array of golden, red, and pink hues. Each of them has its own taste characteristics and pulp texture. Some fruits have a more solid, yellow and sour pulp, others have a softer, white, and low-acid pulp. Yellow-fleshed cultivars are said to be better for canning, while white-fleshed cultivars are considered to be best for eating raw, as they are sweeter in taste.
Moreover, there are varieties of peaches with an easily detachable and non-detachable from the pulp seed.
The main thing that distinguishes peaches from nectarines is their specific skin. Peaches have soft textured skin, which is covered with tiny fuzz, which makes the surface of these fruits fluffy by touch.
Nectarine
Nectarine is a variety of peach (Lat. var. nucipersica or var. nectarina). Commercially-wise they are considered different fruits but in fact, they belong to the same sort.
Nectarines appear in stores almost at the same time as peaches — from May to October. They can also be white and yellow with a detachable or non-detachable seed. On average, nectarines are slighter sweeter than peaches, smaller in size, and have a slightly tougher texture. But in many other aspects, their characteristics are the same.
The main difference is in their skin — nectarines have smooth skin due to the absence of fuzz. It makes the skin of the fruit more reddish than in peaches, which makes it resemble plums. The absence of fuzz means nectarines’ skin is more tender and easier to damage.