What is the most popular fruit? Is it bananas? Actually it is tomatoes - but we don't treat them as fruit. For what we consider fruit, it is in fact bananas. But would we guess watermelon in the number 3 spot and apples number 4 after that? Then we have oranges, grapes, mango and guava, pineapple, peaches, pears, pumpkin, papaya, plums, dates and in 15th spot strawberries.
The consumption of bananas is 116,780, 000 tons vs strawberries at only 8,885 tons. Bananas are such a countable thing - over 100 billion bananas are consumed a year - that's 75% of the annual tropical fruit trade.
Our current fruit is peaches - they are ripe in Niagara. The earliest ones are not freestone. I wonder what variety I bought yesterday - the popular ones are listed as fantasia, harblaze, garnet beauty, harrow diamond, and red haven. There are fifteen different varieties grown in Niagara. But you don't find orchards with the names of varieties at the rows - not like grapes where the variety is nicely displayed.
With all these varieties of peaches we don't seem to purchase by cultivar - not like apples. The pint, quart and 4-quart baskets all say "peaches." Maybe there isn't a lot of taste difference between the varieties. You can compare the peach picking spots in Niagara. and some of them list their varieties. To pick your own peaches today comes with an entrance fee of $4 per person - I guess that's the "selfie-fee". I go to the fruit stands in my area - they are all listed in this article on Niagara's fruit stands HERE. It is nice to see them showcased and appreciated.
