Cherry season is here! Some fruits are available year-round in one form or another, but sweet cherries, alas, are only available during late spring to mid-summer, with their peak happening in early summer. This is a shame, because sweet cherries (like the famous Bing Cherry) are so darn delicious – grown in the Pacific Northwest, Bing Cherries are huge, glossy little stone fruits with juicy flesh so dark red in color it’s almost black. Perfect for snacking, these plump, jewel-like beauties are delightfully sweet, but not too sweet, with bright, tangy undertones that make them perfect for eating fresh. That’s…
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Continue ReadingFor the first time, Hale Groves is bringing you Farm-Fresh Nectarines, a stone fruit that’s a close cousin of the summer peach. Fresh nectarines look almost identical to fresh peaches, only their red-and-gold skins are smooth instead of downy, and their flesh is a little bit firmer and has a slightly citrusy flavor that peaches lack. Nectarine uses include standing in as a substitute for peaches in any recipe that calls for peaches – in fact, nectarines are a little easier to use in cooking because, unlike peaches, you generally don’t have to peel them first. Nectarines are available during…
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Continue ReadingInsomnia: it’s a name for a common sleep disorder that can include such symptoms as having trouble falling asleep, having trouble staying asleep, and/or an inability to get restful sleep. Just about everyone experiences insomnia from time to time, and it’s always unpleasant. Insomnia can make it hard to get up in the morning, leave you feeling sleepy during the day, decrease your efficiency at work, interfere with your daily activities, and even impact your mood, leaving you feeling irritable, depressed, and anxious. Serious cases of insomnia should be addressed with a sleep specialist, but if you experience only occasional…
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Continue ReadingThere’s nothing like that sweet-yet-tangy flavor of a Navel Orange. If sunshine had a taste, orange might be it! A fresh, navel orange is delicious on its own, but its unique taste can add a bright flavor to salads, soups and entrees, while orange candy, orange cookies, and cakes flavored with orange are perfect if you’re looking for a lighter, melt-in-your-mouth dessert after a heavy meal or when serving tea. Navel oranges are sweet, seedless and have excellent health benefits. These health benefits can be attributed to their high concentration of antioxidants and other health-promoting nutrients including vitamin C…
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Continue ReadingWe at Hale Groves are very excited to bring a new summer fruit to our lineup: Farm-Fresh Nectarines! Nectarines (like peaches, cherries, plums and apricots) are what’s known as a “drupe” or “stone” fruit. Stone fruits, which are fleshy, are so-called because they have a “stone” or pit at their center which houses the fruit’s seed. Here are some other facts about nectarines: Exactly what is a Nectarine? At first glance, nectarines may look identical to peaches, only with smooth skins instead of downy ones. In truth, peaches and nectarines are almost exactly the same in terms of genetics. Fresh…
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Continue ReadingThere’s been a growing trend in cold-pressed juicing in recent years. Most people view it as an easy way to get in their daily allotment of fruits and vegetables, which can be very helpful in our busy culture. While nothing beats the benefits of eating whole fruits (fewer calories, less sugar, more fiber), juicing is a great alternative for loading up on essential vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fibers that your body needs. Plus, it’s a good way to use up the excess fruit in your citrus gift basket! Most fruits are appropriate for juicing, but some are better than others…
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Continue ReadingMissing the taste of a sweet summer peach? Great news…you can order peaches online right now! Hale Groves offers Florida peaches for sale, so you don’t have to wait until summer to bite into a sweet, juicy peach. How Florida Peaches are Different The reason fresh peaches have become synonymous with summer is that peach fruit normally is harvested in the summer months. Georgia peaches have an even shorter in-season time (June), as well as a small crop size. Many peach lovers prefer to buy peaches that are grown in Georgia. This is due to the belief that Georgia Peaches…
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Continue ReadingIt gives us great pleasure at Hale Grove to ship peaches to our customers as early as April, thanks to Petite Florida Peaches that are available as early as April! Before this variety was available, our customers couldn’t expect to enjoy the succulent summer fruit before June at the earliest. But you may be wondering why peaches are traditionally known as a summer fruit – after all, they grow on trees in warmer climates; doesn’t that make them a citrus fruit? It’s an easy mistake to make…after all, peaches that are not quite ripe may have citrus overtones in their…
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Continue ReadingWhen you order a fruit basket or fruit box from Hale Groves for yourself or someone else, you know that you and that special someone are getting a special, delicious, healthy treat! Fruit gifts are ideal for just about anyone, from kids to those watching their weight to elderly relatives. When you send a fruit basket to a loved one, you’re sending a message that you care about them. There are so many good reasons to keep fruit in a basket on the counter. You probably already know that a diet rich in fresh fruits does wonders for your health,…
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Continue ReadingTrue or false: “false” fruit is still fruit. Answer: True! Some of the gifts of fruit you can order from Hale Groves are false fruits, while others are true. But how can a fruit be “false?” It might help to consider the background of the delicious food gifts in your Hale Groves fruit basket. How Does Bearing Fruit Help a Plant? Before talking about false fruits versus true fruits, it might help to ask, what exactly is the point of fruit so far as the plant growing it is concerned? Say you’re a fruit-bearing tree. You want your offspring (seeds…