June Is For Peaches <3 Health Benefits, History, How To Pick & Storage
1June 28, 2013 by Living Girl Living Foods
It’s peach season and I’ve been biting into these juicy, sugar dripping fruits for weeks now!
Peaches actually have a rather high water content and are amazing for mono meals since they are super flushing/detoxing. The fiber in peaches makes them filling, this may also be helpful for those trying to control their body weight or if one needs to loss weight.
A few nights now as a mono meal dinner I have been eating around give peaches. When I share this with people, not strangers but not exactly friends either I get this wild eye look. Kind of a, “oh man you must have a wicked bowel movement afterwards.” Peaches are not flushing in that sense that right away we end up having a bowel movement. They are fairly gentle, especially compared to apples for me personally.
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Health Benefits
One large peach typically has somewhere around 68 calories, and mostly is high in Vitamin C, Potassium, Magnesium, and Fiber.
I think we all have an understanding of what each of these nutrients does for our body except for may be magnesium. Magnesium is commonly known for it’s stress relieving and sleep aid benefits.
The U.S. minimum RDA for magnesium is about 320 mg per day for women and more than 400 mg per day for men, yet optimum daily amounts are closer to 500 to 700 mg per day. Studies have shown that most people regularly take in about half of that and that over 8 out of 10 people do not take enough daily magnesium for even the minimum daily amounts recommended.
Recent research has proven that a lack of magnesium may put ones heart health at risk. Thus it is also important for our blood and muscles. We commonly think of consuming a banana when we have a muscle spasm but do not even know the exact reason why potassium and magnesium add in preventing muscle cramps. Here is an excellent and well detailed article by the Center for Magnesium Education & Research, LLC. I think it is important to mention that magnesium is also important for our bones, not just calcium 🙂
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Peach History, How To Pick, Storage
Even though we frequently think of peaches being from Georgia if you are like me and live in the United States. But the actual origin of peaches is China and South Asia.
The peach is a member of the rose family, cousin to apricots, cherries, plums, and almonds (YUM!). The peak time to buy peaches is June to August even though depending where you live in the U.S your grocery store may have them anyway.
How to Buy Peaches
- Even background color of golden yellow for yellow peaches, and creamy yellow for white flesh peaches. Note that the red blush characteristic of some peaches does not indicate ripeness! This use to trick me all the time.
- A well-defined crease.
- A slight give to the flesh meaning it is neither rock-hard nor mushy.
- Avoid fruit with green around the stem (they are not fully ripe) or that have shriveled skin (they’re old).
- Most importantly, find fruit that smells how you hope it will taste. I was recently given a perfect peach from a friend, I kept it in the cup holder in my car to keep it safe and I could smell the sweetness of the peach throughout the car even 😀
- Peaches bruise easily, please do not use your fingertips to check for firmness. Instead, hold the peach in your whole hand.
Storage
Store peaches on the counter at room temperature until they are the ripeness you prefer. When ripe, peaches should be stored in the crisper bin (produce bottom bins) of your refrigerator where they will keep for up to five days. Please keep in mind that they do bruise easily, so try to keep them wrapped in paper, or have a holder-like basket for them to sit in.
At my house I keep my peaches on a plate with no other fruits or items to keep them extra safe.
Fresh frozen peaches tend to stay well for roughly six months without cooking if you would like to keep them raw. Peaches are a wonderful addition to a smoothie, juice or to blend into a sorbet like concoction!
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Thank you all for stopping by my site and reading my jibber jabber! Wishing you all a beautiful weekend with juicy treats. Much love ❤ and raw power 😉
Jess
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