Ingredient

Nectarine

A nectarine is a peach. Not a cross with a plum, not a hybrid of anything — a peach carrying a recessive gene that suppresses the fuzz on the skin. Nectarine trees occasionally produce peaches and peach trees occasionally produce nectarines, which is as clear a demonstration as anybody needs.

One gene, several consequences

The absence of fuzz is not cosmetic. A nectarine's skin is thinner and more permeable, which makes the fruit more prone to bruising, more susceptible to fungal damage in the rain, and slightly quicker to lose moisture.

It also tends to be firmer and a little more aromatic than a peach of the same variety, and slightly smaller. Growers regard nectarines as the more difficult crop for exactly these reasons.

For the cook, the important consequence is that the skin is worth keeping. Peach skin is fuzzy and often removed; nectarine skin is smooth, thin and adds colour and a little tannic edge, and peeling one is usually a waste of effort.

In the kitchen, against a peach

Skin

Keep it. It is thin, it holds the fruit together in heat, and it contributes colour to a compote or a tart.

Firmness

Generally firmer, so nectarine halves hold their shape better on a griddle or in a tart.

Acidity

Usually slightly higher, which makes it a marginally better cooking fruit.

Ripening

Identical to a peach — climacteric, ethylene-driven, and ruined by refrigeration before ripeness.

Freestone and clingstone

Both exist, exactly as with peaches, and the same rule applies: freestone for anything halved.

Where they are better than peaches

• In a tart. The skin keeps each slice intact and browns attractively, and there is no peeling step.
• Griddled for a salad, with burrata or mozzarella, basil and good oil. The firmer flesh survives the tongs.
• In a salsa with chilli, red onion, lime and coriander, for fish or pork.
• Sliced into a jug of something cold, where the skin holds the slices together instead of letting them disintegrate.
• Roasted with rosemary, which sounds unlikely and is excellent.
• Halved and stuffed with amaretti crumbs and baked, the Piedmontese pesche ripiene, which works with nectarines as well as peaches.

Buying and ripening

1. Choose fruit with a clear background colour — creamy or yellow rather than green. Green at the stem means picked too early.
2. Smell the stem end. Aroma before softness is the sign of fruit that will ripen properly.
3. Ignore the red blush. It indicates sun exposure and variety, not ripeness, and is the most commonly misread signal on the whole fruit.
4. Ripen at room temperature, in a single layer, or in a paper bag to speed it up.
5. Refrigerate only once fully ripe, and only for a day or two. Cold before ripeness gives mealy flesh.

Common questions