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Wonder why Jersey peaches are so tasty this summer?

It's been a great year for Jersey peaches, thanks to good weather that started in the winter.

Ideal weather has produced a bountiful crop of particularly tasty peaches for the second year in a row at South Jersey orchards. Shown is a photo from the 2017 harvest.
Ideal weather has produced a bountiful crop of particularly tasty peaches for the second year in a row at South Jersey orchards. Shown is a photo from the 2017 harvest.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

For the second year in a row, New Jersey peach farmers are harvesting a bountiful crop of particularly tasty peaches.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasted this week that New Jersey's peach production would amount to 32,000 tons, up 13 percent from last year and up 60 percent from 2016.

As to what has made the peaches taste so good, New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher said it's a matter of the weather, starting with the right amount of cold in the winter, the absence of a cold snap after the trees bloomed, and then the right amount of warmth and water as the peaches grow and ripen.

"If there's just the right amount of water, and for the most part there has been up until lately, the peach's sugar content remains high," Fisher said.

Those weather conditions contribute not just to the flavor, but also to the yield.

The peach harvest in New Jersey lasts into September because varieties ripen at different times, Fisher said.