Peeling Peaches – the easy way

I love walking into our kitchen during the summer and encountering a whiff of fresh peaches sitting on our counter. Peaches are my husband’s favorite fruit, and we go through a lot of them when they are in season. Whether we’re putting them in milkshakes, baking them into pies, or incorporating them into muffins, they consistently provide a fresh, summery flavor that never gets old.

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The only unfortunate aspect of peaches? Trying to peel them. Sure, leaving the peel on this stone fruit does add extra fiber, but some recipes (like jam) just work better when your peaches are peeled. A potato peeler usually takes an too much fruit along with the peel, and a spiral apple peeler/slicer ends up ripping the peach itself to shreds. What to do?

Truly, the easiest and best way to peel ripe peaches is to blanch them. On the surface it may seem like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never want to use any other method.

There are 5 steps to this process:

• Scoring
• Boiling
• Cooling
• Drying
• Peeling

Before you do anything, prepare your stations. Fill a pot with water about 4-5 inches deep – enough to submerge your peaches. (The actual volume of water will vary depending on the size of your pot.) Place it on your stove and turn the heat to medium/high. While the water is heating up, fill a mixing bowl halfway full with ice and water. Place a dish towel adjacent to your bowl full of ice.

Scoring – X marks the spot

Start by grabbing a paring knife and cutting an “X” into the bottom of each peach. It doesn’t need to be a deep cut, but you do need to break the skin. This will make peeling them easier in our final step.

Boiling

Next, fill a pot with about 4 inches of water and bring it to a boil. Once it has reached a rolling boil, submerge your peaches in the water. Allow them to boil for 40-120 seconds, depending on their ripeness. The more ripe your peaches, the better they will handle this process – and the less time you will need! Truly ripe peaches will only need 40-60 seconds of boil time.

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Cooling

Once your peaches have boiled, immediately transfer them to the waiting ice bath. Allow them to cool for 1-2 minutes.

Drying

Transfer your cooled peaches to the waiting dish towel. Pat them dry.

Peeling

Starting at the “X” on the bottom of each peach, peel away the skin. If your peaches are ripe, the skin should easily pull away without significant resistance. Compost the peach peels and place the peeled fruit in a separate bowl. Core and slice your peaches as needed.

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There – you’re done! Wasn’t that easy? Yes, there are a lot of steps, but each one in itself is quite simple to accomplish. I like to do this process 4 peaches at a time, as it ends up being easier to keep track of how long they stay in the boiling water. Even though it’s an involved process, I can’t imagine peeling peaches any other way.

Did this peach peeling method work for you? Do you have any secrets to making it easier? Leave a message in the comments below, or shout out to @WhiskAverseBaking on social media.