South Carolina: 'The Tastier Peach State'

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Summertime is worth waiting for: watermelons, okra, tomatoes, and peaches. Georgia is called the Peach State; it shipped peaches up north early, and their legislature gave them that title back in 1995. But truth be told, here in South Carolina, we produce more peaches than any other state except California. And we have our own peach moniker – "The Tastier Peach State." California grows about a zillion times more peaches than Georgia and South Carolina, but Sarah Scott, Clemson commercial hort agent from the Ridge (one of our renown peach growing regions), says those tend to be varieties better for shipping and processing, while growers here in the Tastier Peach State have peaches so juicy and sweet that you better have paper towels handy if you bite into one at a produce stand.