Getting acquainted with peaches for the first time? The following are terms you need to know.

Melting Flesh: These varieties are juicy but can have shipping problems because of this. Melting flesh varieties have shorter shelflives, and therefore might be best suited for U-Pick and farmers’ market situations.

Non-Melting Flesh:These varieties are firmer when tree ripe. Shipping these varieties is easier, and they have a longer shelflife. One potential negative of non-melting flesh peach varieties is a consumer bias that firm equals unripe fruit.

Chill Units:These are units required for chilling to produce optimum crops. One unit = 1 hour below 45°F but above 32°F that are accumulated over a 24-hour period.

Fruit Development Period (FDP):This is the period from the peak time of bloom to the peak of  harvest time.

Cling and Non-cling: outdated terms replaced by melting and non-melting