The nectarine is a rounded fruit, with juicy meat and stone, similar to the peach. The skin is not hairy but smooth, as the plum’s skin, and it can be consumed peeled or unpeeled. The harvest of the nectarines in the N Hemisphere takes place in May, although they are found in the markets all the year round, since they are cultivated in many countries of the world.

The nectarine is one of the fleshy fruits with greater vitamin B3 content. This vitamin takes part in the metabolism of the nutrients, promoting the degradation of the cholesterol and therefore, helping to reduce its level in the blood.

The nectarine is a rounded fruit, with juicy meat and with stone, similar to the peach. The skin is not hairy but smooth, as the plum’s skin, and it can be consumed peeled or unpeeled. The harvest of the nectarines in the N Hemisphere takes place in May, although they are found in the markets all the year round, since they are cultivated in many countries of the world.

The nectarine is very similar to the peach; actually, it is a variety of peach. It is a hairless peach obtained by genetic mutation from the gene of the down crossed with the gene of the smooth skin. It has a more vivid colour (between a bright red and yellow colour) and it is usually smaller. Contrary to what people think, the nectarine is not a cross between a peach and a plum. It is a spontaneous variety of peach, so the peaches and the nectarines are genetically equivalent.

The word nectarine comes from " nectar" since this fruit has a tasteful flavour. The nectarine has been cultivated for a long time. It is well-known in England since the end of the XVIth century and due to unknown reasons it was not sold the European markets for a long time. At present, its consumption has increased thanks to France, United Kingdom and Germany, where the sales are on the increase.

Nectarines are consumed fresh, cooked in order to preserve them, used for the manufacture of jam and jellies. This fruit is often uses as an ingredient or as part of desserts, cakes, pies, crepes and even sherbets or ice creams.

The harvest of the nectarine in the N Hemisphere takes place during the month of May, and the fruit is sold until the end of July. In Spain, the provinces with greater production are Sevilla and Huelva, that devote a significant amount of their production to export. Although the production in the N Hemisphere is centred in spring time, we may find this juicy fruit out of season thanks to the production in other countries like South Africa, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, the United States, etc.

The nectarine tree is very similar to the peach tree, in fact it is a variety of the latter. For that reason, they both share common characteristics, such as sensitivity to low temperatures and the need of light for the fruit bearing.

The nectarine belongs to the family of the Rosaceae, species Prunus persica, variety nectarine; that is to say, it is very similar to the peach tree.

It is a deciduous tree, relatively small, of not very vigorous habit, with a chiefly branched and superficial root system.

This tree is affected by the low temperatures. It does not bear temperatures below -15ºC, and given its early flowering, it is very sensitive to spring frosts, suffering serious damages at -3ºC. This species needs a lot of light to bear quality fruit.

From the genetic point of view, the culture of the nectarine is a very interesting phenomenon in horticulture. The peach trees can be bred from nectarine seeds, and at the same time the nectarine trees may be born from peach seeds.