As we head into some of the sweetest, juiciest, most bountiful weeks of the year, we wanted to share how we measure sweetness on the farm and what that measurement can tell you about the fruit on your plate.

Not All Fruit Is Created Equal

The balance of sugar and acid, the texture, the aroma: these are the things that make one piece of fruit stand out from another. Brix is one of the tools we use to measure that quality, and it's worth understanding if you care about what makes good fruit good.

What Brix Measures

Degrees Brix (°Bx) is the ratio of total soluble solids to water in a fruit's juice. People often use it as shorthand for "sugar content," because it captures sucrose and fructose.  A higher Brix reading generally means a sweeter, more flavorful piece of fruit.

Why We Test For It

We use Brix as a harvest tool. Three things shape Brix readings most: soil quality, variety, and ripeness.

Our trees grow in biologically active, regeneratively managed soil. Their roots form symbiotic relationships with the life in that soil. Tree roots provide sugars to microbial life, and the microbes shuttle minerals from the soil to the root system. And the longer fruit hangs on the tree, the more sugar it develops. That's why we don't harvest on a fixed calendar. We test, we taste, and we pick when the fruit is ready.

Variety matters too. Over the years, we've set variety-specific minimum Brix thresholds for everything we grow, because no two varieties build sugar the same way. A Suncrest peach and a Cal Red peach won't Brix the same, even hanging side by side in the same orchard. That's not a flaw in either one. It's just reflective of the potential of each variety. 

Where Grocery Store and Industry Fruit Typically Lands

A commonly cited industry reference puts a standard peach at 10.5°Bx, drawn from a USDA/juice-industry sugar standard. That figure echoes what several grocers report seeing on typical supermarket peaches, often in the 8–10°Bx range.

For context, here are the USDA reference averages for the fruit we grow, alongside our season averages so far:

Key Takeaways

Brix is one piece of a larger picture. Flavor and quality also come down to acid balance, texture, aroma, and personal taste. Some people gravitate toward high-acid fruit, others prefer low-acid. But Brix gives us a fast, objective read on the flavor potential of the fruit we grow, and it's a big part of why fruit grown for flavor tastes different from fruit grown for shelf life, yield, and transport.

Taste the Difference
Our peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots are hand-picked when they’ve developed enough sugar to provide a delightful eating experience. We test and taste before they ever leave the orchard. Shop this season's harvest and taste what a higher Brix score really means.