Fruit and vegetables from the Coast: La Percoca napoletana

Percoca is the name of a heavenly yellow peach with very tasty and juicy yellow pulp, growing in the area of the Phlegrean Fields and on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. And this is what it looks like when it is harvested in mid-summer, that is usually by mid-July:

La percoca napoletana variety - photo courtesy by 

Its name percoca napoletana or percoca del Vesuvio, as they are cultivated in the territories of Acerra, Giugliano, Melito and Campi Flegrei, is said to derive from "praecocqua", meaning precoce, or early (frutti primaticci in Italy). The denomination was used for the first time by writer Rutilio Paladio in the fourth century AD who had divided the peaches into four categories: duracina, persica and armenia, in addition to percoca. Other varieties are also available, such as the percoca di San Martino, that is a percoca tardiva, ripening only towards the end of September. And of course, this peach variety is also available at the adjacent Sorrento Penisula, as is mentioned at the site of I Prodotti di Sorrento 

Olive groves, yes, but there is more: orchards and prominent summer fruit trees grow everywhere and they grow in abundance, this picture was taken near Castellamare on the Sorrento Coast

Well-known in Napoli is the percoca affogata nel vino rosso (peach flushed with red wine), as is called the "sangria napoletana". Lately I tried these fruits, a fine and refreshing Percoca sciroppata: canned in syrup with just water and sugar, as is offered by Sapori Vesuviani, they make a fine part of breakfast, reminiscent of summer all year long, I recommend together with whipped cream and flower sugar.