Good morning!
We now have yellow peaches available on our website! The first harvest has arrived!
It happens that when it's very hot like now, high temperatures prevent the fruit from sizing up, and that's what we've been waiting for.
But now they are ready to go from the tree to your home.
And that's not the only news, because the mountain gold plums also arrived from Alicante, grown with great care by Vicente, in a clean and natural environment.
At home, we've already tried both, the peaches and the plums, and we can say that they are definitely ready for stardom.
Of course, you won't believe it's magic that peaches and plums have that look, let alone the taste.
It's not as simple as leaving them on the tree to ripen, harvesting them, and that's it. To tell you the truth, they involve a lot of work throughout the entire production.
And today, I want to talk to you about one of those great jobs: thinning. It's something I also do with my orange trees, but today's newsletter is about peaches and plums...
Can you imagine seeing a tree laden with peaches and having to start removing them one by one, deliberately, to throw them on the ground?
Well, that's exactly what needs to be done once a year.
Here in the countryside, we call it "thinning out," or technically, "aggressive thinning." It's a technique that at first glance makes you think: "Are these people crazy?" Because, of course, who in their right mind would want less fruit?
Well, we do. But we have our reasons. And here's the explanation, which I assure you is substantial.
As a producer, you always have two paths: to produce a lot of fruit, a voluminous harvest, or to produce high-quality fruit, even if it's less in quantity.
At Campos del Abuelo, we chose the second path a long time ago, the less trodden one, but also the most delicious. Because in the end, it's not about how much fruit you produce... but about how much desire to repeat you produce 🍑.
Let me explain a bit how this thinning thing works:
When a peach or plum tree blooms in spring, it fills with flowers. If you leave it alone, each flower could turn into fruit.
And what a sight! Trees completely overflowing, branches almost touching the ground from the weight, and of course... tiny fruits, with no space, fighting for nutrients like children at a buffet.
And on top of that, many end up falling on their own, malformed or half-developed, or directly causing branches to break.
But if you anticipate your move and decide from the beginning which ones stay... that's the magic of thinning. This early selection means that the tree's energy is concentrated on just a few fruits, and those get super fat! Bigger, juicier, and with much more flavor.
And anyone who has tried one of our premium peaches will vouch for that 👨🌾
Now, it's not as easy as saying, "I'll just remove a few." There's a science behind it. You have to leave about 15-20 centimeters between each peach, as if each fruit had its VIP seat with personal space.
And not all trees are the same: the more vigorous ones can handle a few more, the weaker ones, fewer. Then there's the exact timing: not too early, when the tree doesn't yet know how much it can handle, and not too late, when it has already invested a lot of energy needlessly.
And here comes the "it breaks your heart" factor: because often the fruit you have to remove already looks wonderful, and even so, out it goes! Because you know that this effort is what will make the ones that remain truly make a difference.
The result? Peaches with real sugar (not the kind on the label) and the taste of good fruit, the kind your grandfather had in his orchard.
In the end, choosing "less is more" may not make you rich in volume, but it will in quality. And when you taste a fruit that makes you close your eyes as you bite into it... you never go back.
Remember that we are still harvesting the ideal melon to combat the heat and the most delicious cherries of the season.
A big hug from the countryside, and thank you for appreciating what is well-made and well-cultivated.
It motivates us to keep thinning peaches under the sun as if there were no tomorrow ☀️
See you next week,
