Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 General introduction In the South African National Development Plan (2012:197) it is reported that agriculture by 2030 will create employment opportunities for approximately one million new jobs. in this development document it is reported that peaches are in the third quarter of potential growth, while nectarines are in the second quarter of potential growth. Peaches prove to be a useful product in secondary agriculture, it is therefore crucial to gain an understanding of the crop and evaluate the processes from the primary level up to the point of post-harvest handling.1.1.2 Origin of PeachesThe origin of peach evokes a great sense of attribution to the Chinese people, also indicates how humanity has evolved in the science of knowledge. The peach has a botanical name of Prunus persica. This scientific name originates from the school of thought that believed the peach came from Persia (this would include Iran in the modern day), this view is believed to have been first published by Linne in 1758 (Bassi and Monet, 2008 :1). Then in 1883 De Candolle first recognized that Peach originated in China, cited by Faust and Timon (1995) using genes to prove the origin of peach which indicated that peach came from China. In the Middle Ages it was imagined that France was the second place of origin (Bassi and Monet, 2008:2).1.1.3 Botanical aspectThe scientific name of the peach is Prunus persica, it belongs to the Rosaceae family (Bassi and Monet 2008:5). The peach tree has a straight, smooth trunk with reddish to greenish bark in its first year of growth which subsequently turns dark silver gray (Bassi and Monet 2008:5). It would be a small tree but can reach 8m if not pruned, the leaves are lanceolate but the size will depend on the tree there...... half of the paper......metre. Their five firmness testers, namely the Magness-Taylor pressure tester, portable and mounted effe-gi fruit penetrometer, UC fruit firmness tester and the strain tester. Here the Magness Taylor pressure tester will be used, three samples of each product will be used, the product possessing the same temperature, two punctures per fruit will be made on each side of the equatorial region of the fruit, sights with sunburn will be avoided as they will present incorrect readings. A small disk of the product skin will be removed as it is not the point of interest except on peppers. The fruit must be held with one hand in a stationary position13 on the hard plates then by forcing the plunger at a constant speed towards the fruit, the reading will be taken. E) Determination of titratable acidity In relation to the titrated acid in the fruit, it is the ratio between acidity and