stone fruit production

Kingsburg, California is where you'll find many of the world's largest producers of peaches, nectarines and pluots.

Being here was like watching a live episode of Unwrapped (but about fruit) unfold in front of us.

The fruit is cleaned and sprayed.

Quality, weight checked, sticker stamped.

 And then packed into boxes and crates to await shipping.

These pluots are all destined for Asia. The dusty look on them is called "bloom". The pickers and packers try to preserve this bloom by handling them as little as possible. The dustier it looks, the better the bloom, and hence greater the demand.

Chances are that if you ate a Californian peach, nectarine, or pluot this month, it was packed here.

nuts grow on trees

Summer break and we're off to California to check out some fruit orchards and farms. On our way, we see many almond and pistachio orchards.

Although we know that almonds and pistachios are tree nuts, it never really occurred to us that they actually grow on trees like fruit.

But they do and it was really interesting and cool to see.