Besides pitching in at the farmers markets, each Tenerelli family member has specific roles in the business. John handles overall management and contributes to the hands-on farm labor. Tracie is the bookkeeper and helps pack fruit for Peaches.LA, a supplementary business run by their daughter Natalie Tenerelli and her husband Dan Cox, which ships peaches to online customers. John’s sister Andrea Tenerelli runs and publicizes the weekend farmers markets, with help from Tracie’s son Coby Nissen. And some longtime employees are like family. Pandemic pivot Until 2020, Natalie Tenerelli and Cox weren’t too involved with her parents’ farm. But when restaurants and farmers markets shut down during the pandemic, they wanted to do something to help keep the family business afloat. “We told John, if you grow the fruit for us, we’ll market it online and figure out a way to sell it directly to consumers,” Cox recalls. With no money for advertising, Natalie took to social media and found a network of friends and pre-pandemic customers willing to help spread the word about the farm’s peaches. They called the venture Peaches.LA and created its website, and online sales soon took off. “It became this really special thing to people during COVID,” Cox says. “When they didn’t have
Yellow or white peaches? It depends
There are hundreds of different varieties of peaches. Some are freestones, handy to cook with since the fruit easily pulls away from the pit, and some are clingstones, better for eating fresh since the flesh sticks to the pit. But it’s the color of the flesh that makes a significant difference in flavor. White peaches have a delicate, floral sweetness, and yellow peaches’ acidity gives them a more intense flavor. Tracie Tenerelli, whose family grows all types of peaches, says there’s a clear winner among the farm’s customers. “I would say in the farmers market, probably 75% of the people prefer yellow peaches,” she says. “The restaurants are really partial to the yellow fruit too.” She agrees with them. “White peaches, to me, are just sweet. They don’t have that real peachy flavor.” One of the farm’s most popular yellow varieties is the mid-season O’Henry. “We also have one called the Summer Lady that comes right along with that. Some of our guys nicknamed it Sangre de Toro—blood of the bull—because it has so much red juice. I used to be partial to the O’Henry, but Summer Lady, to me, has the most flavor to it,” she says. Rich Mead, chef and owner of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona Del Mar, says both white and yellow peaches are special for different reasons. Yellow peaches, with their more pronounced flavor, are more versatile, he says. “I prefer a high-acid sweetness because when you bake and cook with it, it turns out nicely,” he says. “But we use the white peaches too,” he says. He’s noticed that certain ethnic cultures prefer white peaches, and their milder flavor adds the perfect subtle sweet accent to some dishes, especially salads.
At left, Natalie Tenerelli and Dan Cox carefully inspect just-harvested peaches to make sure there are no cosmetic imperfections before placing them in the shipping boxes, below, to be sent to customers all over the country.
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