Rep. Brown is just peachy … Carolina peachy

Don’t call Rep. Henry Brown, Jr., (R-S.C.) a Georgia peach.

Brown was spotted carrying a huge peach with him to afternoon votes last Thursday, and he was more than happy to dispel what he sees as a longstanding misconception.

{mosads}“Forget Georgia,” he said to ITK, “South Carolina is the real peach capital of the United States!”

The retiring lawmaker pointed out that he was toting a Carolina peach with him, which he brought into the House chamber and then out to the Speaker’s Lobby just off the House floor. Before leaving, Brown gave the monster peach to ITK. While not entirely ripe, it was still tasty.

The Charleston lawmaker’s vehement support for Carolina peaches over their southern cousins is understandable. But surprisingly, it’s also backed up by the facts: South Carolina leads Georgia, the Peach State, in annual peach production by a healthy margin.

Neither state, however, can beat California, which produces an average of 795 million pounds of peaches a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.