Dwarf Peach ‘Bonanza:’ What Happens If You Don’t Thin the Fruit?
By: sbgyn
Tags: Dwarf peach 'Bonanza', Fruit Trees, Peach Trees, Recipe for spiced peaches, Trees
Category: Fruit Trees, Recipe, Spiced peaches, Trees
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Once the risk of a hard freeze is past, the tiny peaches need to be thinned if you want to get large fruit. Otherwise you will get a whole lot of small, but very tasty, fruit. A shame, you might be thinking. That would all depend upon what use you intended to make of the peaches.
These small peaches make wonderful whole spiced peaches to be canned for use in the winter holidays. They are first canned whole (recipe to follow). They can be cut in half and served over ice cream as a holiday dessert. They can be served alone as dessert. They can be used in a fruit compote. Halved, they make a wonderful topping for custard tartlets. Peaches this size can usually be packed 12 to a quart jar. The ‘Bonanza’ peaches will turn the syrup a wonderful shade of red.
Whole Spiced Peaches (for small peaches) – Recipe from the Ball Blue Book
Wash peaches; drop into boiling water for 30 – 60 seconds; immediately plunge into cold water. Peel fruit, but leave whole. Drop into a solution of FruitFresh or similar while all of the fruit is peeled. Be sure to wash before adding to hot syrup mixture.
For eight pounds of peaches, combine
1 cup sugar
4 cups water
2 cups honey
in a large saucepot and cook until sugar dissolves. Add one layer of peaches at a time to the hot syrup, and cook for about three minutes. Pack hot peaches into hot jars. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
To each jar, add
1 stick of cinnamon
1/4 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp whole allspice
Ladle hot syrup into jars, again leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles.
Secure 2-piece lids.
Process in a water bath for 25 minutes.
When cool, be sure to store in a cool, dark spot until you are ready to enjoy these wonderful little peaches.
9 comments on “Dwarf Peach ‘Bonanza:’ What Happens If You Don’t Thin the Fruit?”
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Nice to see your lovely peach tree photo and read about your experience with this variety. I just bought one of these trees today, at Lowe’s of all places, and am excited to see it grow. It is a new variety for me. I used to have an Elberta Dwarf peach but I sold that house this month and moved and could not take it with me. So, I am re-starting with a Bonanza Dwarf peach and hope it will be as successful. That recipe sounds good, but I will have to wait until next year to see if I get fruits.
Hi, Claire, thank you for coming by.
Here’s hoping your little Bonanza performs for you as well as this one has for me. In what part of the country do you live?
I live in Iowa, which is zone 5a. My Elberta peach did not bloom reliably, although the tree looked lovely and grew every year. Out of four years, it only bloomed once, but that was this spring. It has about 150 peaches on it now, green golf ball size. I am going to send a note to the new home owners (they just moved in this weekend) and see if they will let me have a few in the fall when they ripen. I sure would like to try one. I suspect the Bonanza will be similar – it should grow and thrive as a tree but probably won’t bloom except in the ideal spring conditions. Most years the bloom buds freeze too hard and never open. I have heard that the “Reliance” peach is a good one for this zone because it blooms a little later. I’ll look for one of those next spring.
I know nothing about gardening in your zone. Many years ago I lived in Kansas City, but at that time was “too busy” to think about gardening. The house had peonies that were spectacular every spring (I can’t grow them here – gets too hot too soon), but other than that, just the usual grass and big trees.
I am in Zone 7b. The Bonanza blooms reliably here every year. But I have had more than one year in which we got a hard freeze after the bloom, and virtually no peaches developed. The thing about Bonanza – for me – is that it has a nice shape, is pretty in the summer, and very interesting in outline in the winter. The peaches themselves are a little “bonus.”
After the peaches are harvested (I have just finished), I always fertilize the tree, and add a little extra phosphate.
I’m going to look into ‘Reliance.’ Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for taking the time to read and to comment! (I’m sure the new home owners will give you some of the peaches. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!)
Thanks for the great recipe. Some gracious neighbors let me pick some of their tiny peaches and I was searching online to try to figure out what to do with them. I am definitely going to do whole spiced peaches. I am also going to suggest in the thank you note that I send that they thin out their peaches next year. Their tree was loaded with peaches, all small. They were really interested in knowing what to do to help their tree. You have a great website! Thanks! Nancy, Richmond, VA
If you can whole peaches, I assume you have to can them with the pit intact. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be whole, because you have to cut them up to get the pit out. If you can them with the pit still in, that doesn’t cause any problems? No off flavors?
Hi, Nancy. Thanks for the compliment; I hope you’ll return and visit often.
You are correct that the pit is left in for this recipe; the peaches are truly “whole.” I have never noticed, nor had family members who would not be shy abut telling me they noticed, an off flavor from the pits in this peach. It may because the spices that are added blended with the bitter almond taste one tends to associate with peach pits; I really don’t know why. But, these are left whole, and people have always said, “Wow, these are delicious. Where did you find them?”
Good luck with the canning, and let me know what you think of the recipe!
Again, thanks for the comments.
Where can I purchase the Dwarp Peach Bonanza?
Sincerely,
Ouida Simmons-Nichols
Hi, Ouida. I do not know where you live, but my best suggestion would be to call some of your local nurseries and ask them if they carry it, and, if so, when is the best time to plant it.
If they do not carry it, they might have suggestions for a dwarf peach that does better in your region.
Thanks for dropping by.