Archaeologists have found bowls of peaches, revered as a potent symbol of immortality, entombed with Chinese dignitaries several centuries before Christ.

The peach is likely native to that part of China near the Pakistani border where it still grows wild. The Latin name for peach means Persian plum because the Romans imported it from Persia (now Iran) some 2,000 years ago.

In the New World, peaches date back to the 1500's, brought first to Latin America by early Spanish colonists. Peach trees flourished in temperate parts of Canada almost from the time of the first European settlement.