Tableau Vivante

If you do a Google search of Sangre de Toro (bull’s blood en ingles) peaches, you’ll pull up a whole mess of praise for a Spanish wine, but absolutely bupkiss about the peach varietal. This is a peach that will require you to go straight to the source for info. Is it this mystery that drives people to ask for it by name? A sort of locovore password that gets you a validating smile and nod from the growers?

The Tenerelli Orchards in Littlerock, CA are the peach wranglers of note when it comes to the Sangre de Toro. So I took a moment to chat with John Tenerelli this morning to see what the hubbub was.

“We planted 30 trees about 15 years ago,” said John. “And about four years ago, we planted another 200 which just started producing good fruit loads this year.”

The appeal seems kind of puzzling to him, though. The O’Henry is still hands down their most popular peach (with good reason - it’s pure mouth gold) and they’ll have it for another 10 days yet. The Sangre de Toro, like many of their varieties, has a pretty short window of opportunity. In fact, it’s already done for 2008. They pick for 10-14 days and don’t store any of the harvests, so they’ll have it out for two weeks or so and then, poof, it’s gone until next season.

The fruit isn’t super sweet like other successful peach varietals. They tested it with a refractometer, and when the sugar levels came out very high, they were surprised. It seems that the acid is also really high, and it balances out with the sweetness, giving the peach a complex, if muted flavor profile that makes it unique.

I mentioned the lack of data available on the infowebs and received a quick explanation. The original name of this peach has been lost to history (no records from the initial planting 15 years ago). Sangre de Toro was the name given to the fruit by the field workers who picked it. When eaten, the juice of the peach would stain their shirts a blood red. It stuck and so ever shall it be.

Like I said before, the Sangre de Toro is gone for the season – they sold their last batch this morning at the West Hollywood Farmers’ Market. But John did give a heads up on another variety coming into play as soon as this weekend.

The Indian Blood Peach – Actual name, small fruit (though various other websites say it’s larger than the O’Henrys), and only 11 trees of it at his orchards. A white-fleshed peach but can be deep red to purple inside when the trees are younger. John practically drooled in his description.

“It’s not a money maker. It’s an heirloom and is to me the best white peach out there. Put a half dozen in your kitchen and they will fill it with the best smell. Exceedingly floral. I looked at them last week and they might be ready for this coming weekend, but with 11 trees there won’t be that many.”

Tenerelli visits markets all over California, but the L.A. locs are Santa Monica on Wednesdays, West Hollywood, Torrance, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Hollywood, Studio City, and Alhambra.