Once you’ve got this peeling trick down, you can bottle/preserve peaches or make something delicious like peach cobbler, peach crisp, or peach scones.
When a recipe calls for several peeled peaches, you know it’s going to be delicious but getting peach skin to come off smoothly, using a knife or a peeler, can be time consuming! (Not to mention you often lose chunks of peach flesh doing it that way.) This blanch and shock method for peeling peaches is the easiest way to remove the skin from peaches quickly and without a knife or peeler.
How to Peel Peaches:
Boil a large pot of water. Choose a pot big enough to fit several peaches at a time.
Blanch peaches: Reduce heat to a simmer and lower peaches into the water. Let them blanch in the water for about 30 seconds.
Place them in an ice bath. After you scald the peaches in hot water you want to stop them from cooking (“shock” them) by immediately putting them in an ice water bath until they have cooled.
Peel the skins off. The peach skin should be very easy to pull away gently with your hands, or use a knife to make a small slit to get it started.
Once the peaches are peeled, they’re ready to slice. Cut the peach in half by running a knife all the way around the center and pit of the peach. Gently twist to pull the sides apart from one another and remove the pit.
Peach Buying Guide:
The most important part of a delicious peach recipe is the quality and ripeness of the peaches used. Here are a few guidelines for how to choose a ripe peach:
Look at the skin color. Look for peaches that have nicely colored red and yellow skin. Green skin is a sign of an unripe peach. Smell. Peaches with a fragrant “peachy” smell will be more ripe then those with little or no smell. Give it a squeeze. Check the firmness of the peach by squeezing it gently. Pay attention to how soft it is. Unripe peaches are very firm, ripe peaches will give just slightly, and over-ripe peaches will feel almost squishy. Check for bruises and wrinkles. Look for mushy spots on the peach or brown spots that would indicate bruising. Also check that the skin hasn’t started to wrinkle.
After peeling, use your fresh peaches in:
Peach Cobbler Peach Crisp Peach Pie Peach Chutney Peach Crumb Cake Peach Scones You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes! RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience. Photography by Nikole from The Travel Palate. This post contains affiliate links.