Best Way to Peel Peaches

Stone fruit season is by far the most delicious time of year. Learning the best way to peel peaches has made eating lots and lots of them quickly, super easy. Peach pie, peach cobbler, peach jam, peach juice, peach compote, peach ice cream, etc. :)

Step 1: Choosing Your Fruit

The easiest peaches to peel are ripe ones. So make sure you take the time to pick ones that are soft to soft-ish as opposed to hard*.

*If all you can find are hard ones, not to worry, I'll tell you the best way to peel those too in Step 4.

Step 2: Supplies

Here's what you'll need:

- large cook pot filled with water
- slotted spoon
- large bowl filled with ice and water
- ripe peaches (of course!)

Step 3: Warm It Up

Boil the water in the pot, and using the slotted spoon, lower the peaches into the water one by one. Leave them in for 30 seconds, turning the floating ones over often so that the entire skins get a decent amount of time in the water.

After 30 seconds, remove them all from the water and place them in a strainer.

Step 4: Plunge & Peel

Plunge the peaches into the ice water for 30 seconds each and use your fingers to remove the peels. If the peaches were ripe, the skin will just slide off. If the peach was just kind of ripe, the skin will take a bit more coaxing from your fingers. If the peaches weren't ripe at all, you will need to use a knife to remove the skin. (It should still be easier than if you hadn't done the hot/cold process.)

Now you can get busy making those pies. If you happen to have extra, let me know! ;)