As a Western Canadian, why is everyone seemingly so obsessive with Ontario peaches?

miningminer wrote: ↑ I don't understand what you are saying actually. A ripe peach to me is one that is sweet and juicy. A soft but not sweet peach is not ripe to me. I can soften a hard peach in a few seconds against my countertop.

Peaches are non-climateric, which means they do not get any sweeter after picking. They do soften & become more juicy as they age after picking though. So sweetness is 1 thing & "soft & juicy" is another.

Ideally you would pick them ripe off the tree for maximum sweetness, but all supermarket peaches are picked hard. They can still be sweet, though. I find the imported US ones typically are & the Ontario 1s are not. They are peachy but not sugary.

I understand, but I do not consider a soft, juicy, unsweet peach as ripe. It's just an shitty old peach. Similarly a pale pink tomato left on the shelf for a long time isn't ripe either.

As someone from BC I have never heard of Ontario growing Peaches let alone people asking for them. In the lower mainland peaches I've seen are either from the Okanagan or from the US mostly California. I guess if I thought about it I know that Ontario grows peaches but really the ones from the Okanagan are usually really good in my experience. I think that peaches don't travel particularly well so that's why we don't see too much cross country trade.