The State of Peaches [by Josh]

[For three weeks, Josh & Katy blogsit]Although summer fruits are one of my favorite foods and I eat copious amounts of them each season, I've yet to develop an ability to recognize a truly good peach from the outside.For example:Which of these is better? They came from two different sources but they are equivalent in texture, smell and softness. Without a bite they are, to me, indistinguishable.OK - now I know which is better. But do you? As we can clearly see, one is a white peach, the other yellow. Both were quite juicy, passing the mealy test admirably (they weren't at all).By this point I really didn't want to finish one of these. It was nearly flavorless - no sweetness, a touch bitter. But still juicy - which is normally the problem with peaches.Although the other peach was pretty good, it was by no means was it great. But I haven't had a great peach in years -- definitely not since I've been in Georgia. Now, you see this poses a bit of a problem, a little identity issue. Georgia is the Peach State. It's the state fruit, it's on the quarter, and sometimes my grandfather calls Katy a Georgia peach. Yet the sweetest fruit in the state is the Vidalia onion.The problem: If Georgia is not the Peach State, then what is? Consistently, the best peaches I've had here come from South Carolina, the Palmetto State.The solution: So let's call SC the Peach State. It's only fair, they've earned it. But this leaves a vacuum in Georiga. The state does have other nicknames -- maybe one of those will work. My extensive research at netstate.com, the industry-recognized authority on questions about states, shows five alternatives:The Empire State of the SouthThe Goober StateThe Cracker StateThe Buzzard StateYankee-land of the SouthHmmm. On second thoughts, maybe food scientists could just give Georgia a better peach. Sorry, South Carolina, we're going to have to take that nickname back.Back to the real peaches - the white one was the good one.--josh