The Most Delicious Peach that You Can Drink

Wuxi Yangshan Town has a history of growing peach for more than 700 years, and is well-known as the “Hometown of Chinese Peach”.

Yangshan Peach was once praised by the “Wall Street Journal” as “the most delicious peach in the world”, especially its exclusive ability – you can drink fresh and rich peach juice directly by inserting a straw on the peach.

Yangshan peach that can be drunk

Just like the principle of “people are raised by their soil and water”, the growth of peach has high requirements on the environment. Different environments, different planting methods, and different picking standards will produce different flavors.

“Le Taotao, the scenery of Taihu Lake is good; sweet honey, Yangshan peach”. Yangshan peach, produced in Yangshan Town, Wuxi, has the reputation of being “Queen of Fruits”.

In 2003, it has obtained the registration of geographical indication products of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Yangshan peach is large in shape, beautiful in color, rich in aroma, juicy, and sweet, it melts in the mouth, and has the reputation of “flesh made of water”. The peach pulp contains 8-13% sugar, 0.2-0.9% organic acid, and rich nutrients such as protein and inorganic salts.

According to the time of maturity, the Yangshan peach can be divided into early-ripening peaches in June, mid-ripening peaches in July, and late-ripening peaches in August. Among them, the high-quality early peach varieties are mainly Yuhualu, Jinghong, Chaoyang, and Richuan (雨花露、京红、朝阳、日川); the high-quality mid-ripening peach varieties are Baifeng and Hujingmilu (白凤、湖景蜜露); the high-quality late-ripening peach varieties are mainly Wanhong Lakeview and Qingpi Lakeview(晚红湖景、青皮湖景).

The most worth looking forward to in the Yangshan peach in July is the Baifeng (白凤) and the lake view (湖景). As the backbone of medium-ripening peach, Baifeng is also the most beautiful peach variety in Yangshan peach. The lake view can be said to be the pinnacle of Yangshan peach, and it is also called “the most delicious peach in the world” by the “Wall Street Journal”.

The most outstanding thing is that its peach flesh melts in the mouth, and it can even be sucked directly with a straw when it is ripe. Therefore, it has a reputation as a “straw peach”. The weather is hot, the sweetness of the cauliflower seeds is high, the top is easy to rape, and it is not resistant to transportation. The truly cooked lake view can only be tasted locally in Yangshan, so that you will never forget it.

The best drink from Yangshan

Yangshan Peach is one of the four famous peach-producing areas in China, with a history of seven hundred years and a history of cultivation for nearly a hundred years.

From the bridge couplet of Luxu Bridge built in the third year of Baoqing (1227), it can be seen that as early as the Song Dynasty, peach trees are planted in the front and back of Yangshan folk houses. Planting peach trees is a spring scene where peach blossoms are in full bloom on both sides of the strait. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the “Yulushuimi” was introduced by Tan Mengtao from Fenghua, Zhejiang, and the “Baifeng” and “Chuanshilang” was brought back from Japan by foreign students Yin Zhi were cultivated in the Yangshan area. By the 1930s, the foothills of Yangshan Mountain had filled Taoyuan. At that time, boxed fine peaches appeared, which became precious gifts for relatives and friends. In the mid-1950s, in addition to local supply, peaches in Yangshan dominated the fresh and processed peaches market in Shanghai. Gradually loved by consumers at home and abroad, it sells well in major cities along the Shanghai-Nanjing line and is exported to Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia.

The main reason why Yangshan peaches are so excellent is related to the local unique natural climate and volcanic geological conditions. Yangshan is located in Yangshan Town, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, on the shore of the beautiful Taihu Lake.

Located in the transition zone from north subtropical to central subtropical, the climate is warm and humid, with sufficient sunshine, abundant rainfall, and a long frost-free period. Summer is a subtropical climate, hot and rainy. June is the wettest month, which is conducive to the early growth of peach; July and August are sunny and have high temperatures, which is conducive to improving the sugar content of peach.

Its peach central production area is around the four hills of Dayang Mountain, Xiaoyang Mountain, Changyao Mountain, and Lion Mountain. Among them, Dayang Mountain is an ancient volcano formed billions of years ago. The crater still maintains its original appearance. The ancient volcanic ash soil layer is rich in minerals and various trace elements, so the Yangshan peaches planted are rich in nutrients and especially sweet. On February 26, 2020, the Yangshan Peach Advantage Area of Chinese Characteristic Agricultural Products in Huishan District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province was identified as the third batch of advantageous areas of Chinese characteristic agricultural products.

Peach is a symbol of happiness and longevity, and the peach culture has been deeply embedded in the customs of Wu.
Since 1997, Yangshan has successfully held the Yangshan (International) Peach Blossom Festival for 25 consecutive years.
With centuries-old academies, thousand-year-old temples, 10,000 mu of peach forests, and 100 million-year-old volcanic resources, Yangshan peach culture is permeated with a kind of humanistic spirit. It has spirituality and warmth and is full of strong local flavor and cultural characteristics.
Yangshan peach has become a fragrant and sweet “city card” of Wuxi.

Peaches are sold well, and the people of Yangshan are sweet

After decades of development, the Yangshan Peach brand has become well-known both at home and abroad. Every year from June to June, it will be sold out. In 2021, the output of peaches in Yangshan Town will reach 18,300 tons, with an output value of nearly 500 million yuan, and the per capita disposable income of farmers will reach 59,000 yuan. It is expected that the overall output of peach in 2022 will increase by about 20% compared with last year, and the sales price will be basically the same as in previous years, which is really gratifying news for the local peach farmers.

The quality of Yangshan peach is widely recognized without strict control from planting to transportation and sales. All levels, industries and all walks of life in Wuxi have taken pragmatic measures, ranging from technical support, financial support, peach farmer training, logistics guarantee, The protection of rights and interests and other aspects will break through the blocking points and help farmers become rich.

A high-quality Yangshan peach first requires a fair complexion in terms of “face value”, and its maintenance secret is “bagging”.

Every year after Xiaoman, the peach farmers start a new round of busy work, first pruning and thinning to select high-quality fruits, and then bagging. The effect of a small layer of “yellow shirt” is not small. It can not only protect the beauty of peach, prevent sunburn, fruit cracking, and insect and bird damage, but also avoid pesticide pollution and improve storability.

A tree generally needs 200 to 300 bags, and the bags used are special paper bags for peaches, which do not contain any pesticide ingredients. The technique of bagging is related to the appearance and physique of the peach. A skilled master can complete 5,000 bagging times a day, greatly improving the quality of the fruit.

In addition to continuous innovation and breakthroughs in the planting process, Yangshan Peach has also continued to make technological attempts in the sorting and packaging process of peach, and intelligent transformation has become a new support point.
This year, Wuxi Taihu Yangshan Peach Technology Co., Ltd. launched a new intelligent peach sorting equipment.

The round and soft rubber fruit tray carefully hold the peaches one by one through the sorting equipment. The equipment automatically classifies the peaches according to their size, weight, roundness, sugar content, and other indicators.
The peaches selected by the machine are uniform and of high quality, which greatly reduces the labor of manual sorting for peach farmers. The digital and intelligent selection of peaches increases the speed by 30%. On average, 183 peaches can be sorted in 1 minute, and the screening volume can reach 3 tons in 1 hour during the peak period.

Affected by the pandemic, peach farmers encountered the problem of “difficulty in selling”, and Wuxi city, district, and town levels actively coordinated resources,
set up Yangshan Peach Transshipment and Distribution Center in Shanghai Fresh Processing Center, Beijing Xinfadi, Guangzhou Jiangnan Fruit Market, Hebei Gaobeidian, etc., relying on the town collective enterprise platform to open a green channel, adopting the method of double closed-loop distribution of cold chain vehicles, and transports the peach “point-to-point” to the distribution centers in various places, and then the local delivery staff directly delivers it to customers, the logistics driver does not leave the cab throughout the process, which not only meets the needs of customers but also reduces contact, ensuring smooth sales of peach.

Sweet Peaches Achieve Landmark Brand

Yangshan Town draws its connotation from peach culture and actively promotes the deep integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism by relying on festival activities.

Peach farmers process peach wood handicrafts to realize the “fission reaction” from peaches to primary products such as preserved fruit and peach wine, to peach carvings, peach blossom tea, peach blossom mask, and other high-value-added products.

In 2021, there will be many “events” in Yangshan Town. After 25 sessions, the Peach Blossom Festival has gradually evolved into a large-scale comprehensive cultural event integrating flower viewing, tourism and leisure, economic and trade cooperation, and cultural exchanges. The mountain half marathon, the college student sketch tourism festival, the peach music festival, and other special festivals, and the introduction of high-quality cultural tourism projects such as the Sunac Yangshan parlor, further expand the popularity and reputation of the Yangshan Resort.

In the first half of the year, the number of visitors to the resort reached 1.28 million, a year-on-year increase of 62%, and the revenue of the cultural tourism industry increased by 40% year-on-year. The Yangshan Peach Blossom Festival was awarded the title of “China’s Outstanding Contemporary Festival”.

This year, the project sponsor of the Jiangsu Intellectual Property Strategy Promotion Plan project announced that the geographical indication of “Yangshan Peach” has won the Jiangsu Provincial Geographical Indication Cultivation and Protection Project”, the only one in the city.

The government will gradually formulate the “Yangshan Peach” geographical indication development plan, promote the integration of geographical indications and related industries, explore the “GI+” development model, and promote the integration and mutual promotion of geographical indications and related industries such as tourism, cultural and creative industries, and the Internet. Through the development model of “Peach-Peach Culture-Peach Industry”, the government promotes the integrated development of related industries and realizes rural revitalization.

July is beginning, and the aroma of peaches in Yangshan is getting stronger and stronger. If you can visit Yangshan to taste fresh and delicious peaches and feel the simple and fresh peach culture, it will be a wonderful thing!