Beautiful Fresh Peaches and how to peel these in a few minutes

When our son decided to go to school in South Carolina, it never clicked in my mind that one of the bountiful blessing that would come from all our trips to watch his football games are the fresh peach stands throughout the state.

Sprinkled throughout the highway exits, they call our name every visit while they’re in season. There’s just something extra special about fresh peaches. On our first visit, I just got the basket above, but within a week they were gone, so our next jaunt had me loading up some bushels.

Now with those perfectly ripe, juicy peaches also come fruit flies. When they hit, those pesky buggers are nearly impossible to get rid of so I went to town making up lots of fresh peach pie filling to freeze, peach smoothies, peach cobbler and more.

Yes, we were in peach heaven, but I needed to put them up quickly.

How to peel whole peaches quickly and easily.

You have to love the home spun wisdom paced down through the generations because our “Uncle Bill” made sure we knew the quick and easy way to peel whole peaches. 

I did, but I still give him all the credit. 🙂

I love taking advantage when peaches are on sale and then freezing them for use throughout the winter months when the produce prices are through the roof.  Sometimes I just cut them in pieces and freeze with the peels for smoothies, but for baking this is the best trick. It takes a little extra time, but it’s so worth it.

Basically, we are going to blanches the peaches to loosen their skin. This process works well anytime you want to freeze produce. You need to make sure the peaches are nice and ripe because this method won’t work well with hard peaches, nor overly mushy ones. You want them at their peak flavor.

Begin by bringing a large pot of water to rolling boil.

If you are doing a lot of peaches, use the largest that you own. If you only have a small one, don’t worry. Just work through them in batches. It’s super easy.

Carefully drop peaches into boiling water for 30 seconds – 1 minute. 

At first, leave them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds and then test one. The amount of time will vary based on how ripe they are.

Use a slotted spoon to remove them from boiling water and quickly plunge into ice water.

Leave the peaches in the ice water to cool for approximately 30 seconds – one minute. This will stop them from cooking further.

*Test one peach. If the peel doesn’t come off easily and you are sure they are ripe, the peaches may need to stay in the hot water for a little bit more time.

Take a knife and cut a small criss cross at top of peach and peel away.

The peels should slide off easily. Now you are ready to cut and pit them.

Quick Tip for Peeling Peaches - easy peach pie filling

Now all that’s left to decide on is what deliciousness you will create with these peaches and I think my Bed & Breakfast Peach Puff Pancakes may be calling my name.

Freeze Fresh Peach Pies in Bulk. Such a great tip!

My yummy and oh, so easy peach pie filling and “freezer peach pies”  is one of my favorites, so head on over there to snag the recipe. It’s so wonderful to have fresh peach pie ready in minutes.

Freeze Fresh Peach Pies in Bulk and have it ready in minutes