The local hubbub about peaches is TK Orchards in Aurora, Oregon. They have awesome quality, awesome prices, awesome variety. People plan their picking around the ripening of the Dixie Gems. I "u-picked" the Dixie Gems last year. They were yummy, they were easy to pick. They were wonderfully priced. But, I was jealous of their neatly arranged, non-bruised "we-pick" boxes as I checked out. So this year, I thought, "pay a little more, get the pre-picked peaches." I ended up with 10lbs of star-fire peaches for $15. Great price, right!
Now, the Facebook hubbub has been about Milk Creek Produce in Mulino, Oregon. They get their peaches from Gunkel Orchards in Maryhill, WA. And they were selling theirs for 20lbs for $14. Even better price! Now theirs were not as beautiful, nor as local, and the Facebook gossip was that they were not free-stone (gasp)! I nabbed myself some of these as well... just to see if I could see a difference.Results...
TK orchards peaches looked better and de-stoned better and were more-consistently ripe.
Milk Creek's peaches were more economical and de-stoned easily when ripe, but the box was of varying ripeness (might be an advantage when consuming over time). These peaches were also not as beautiful. Probably 1/10 was moldy inside where the stone is and 1/11 contained earwigs! I'm not bug-shy, but it did make de-stoning them a bit of an adrenaline rush. I was less-than-relaxed anticipating bugs bursting forth and scurrying across the counter every time I opened one up. The kids, however, loved the added excitement.
Bottom line- if you're feeling economical and don't mind extra excitement, you can't beat Milk Creek's price. If you want streamlined peach-processing and consistent quality, go for TK.
And, how did my canning go?!? Easy enough, but extremely sticky. I don't know how Sarah does 80 quarts. Props to her!
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