This year, my two peach trees decided to produce a boatload of peaches. In prior years, only one peach tree produced enough peaches that survived the onslaught of every animal in town. { Invitations were sent out to all animals within five miles of my property. “Smorgasbord at Anna’s house. Don’t be late.”} Faced with an excessive amount of peaches, I was doomed. How was I ever going to peel all those peaches?
Well, I got busy, frustrated, and then a lightning bolt hit me. So when you get what you wished for {um, lots of peaches,} check out my easy peach peeling method.
A Little Peach History First
Ohh, come on Anna. Just tell us your secret.
Just hold your panties. You need to know how I figured this out. Normally, you peel peaches by blanching them. Well, no one told me to make sure your peaches are ripe before you blanch. I was in survival mode with those peaches.
Alternatively, I would take down the peaches just a tad before they ripened since I started loosing the animal versus Anna battle. Everytime, the wind would blow, a ton of peaches would fall to the ground.
The next day, I would hurry outside and retrieve them to find that someone or somebody got there first. Pits were all over the ground. If you could picture this, I was on all fours crawling around picking up those peaches. I swear I found some empty wine bottles and Doritos bags on the ground as well. A regular party was going on in the dark.
Just in case, you want to pipe in. Yes, I have an 8 foot fence. The rabbits some how snuck under the fence. You know how I feel about rabbits in my garden. Unfortunately, the neighbor’s cat who is quite crafty, tangoed with the rabbits. I found two dead by the trees.
I was horrified and made hubs dispose of them. Okay, I wanted to toss my own cookies after I saw the rabbit mess and then stayed up most of the night Googling WHO would have done such an awful thing. A cat. The one who figures out how to jump into my garden.
Blanching Failures
Can you imagine blanching 30 peaches every night. Surprisingly, I couldn’t figure out why the skins never completely came off. They tasted ripe to me. Apparently not ripe enough. Or alternatively, I stink at blanching.
Plus, blanching is time consuming: Boiling the peaches, putting them on ice, and then peeling them. *Yawn* I could think of better things to do like watching the party outside as the animals drank and ate my peaches.
Just in case, you have another “but Anna,” knives and I don’t get along so peeling them isn’t an option. The knife always wins.
Lightning Bolt Time
Frustrated, I started muttering to myself like a crazy old lady, “what if I stuck them in the freezer?” It works with my tomato skins.
What have I got to lose? I put the peaches on a cookie tray and in the freezer they went for 24 hours.
Guess what?
IT WORKED. You thought I won the lottery.
I would defrost two bags at time and keep the skins. {Guess, what I did with the skins? A promised future post. Think delish.} Honestly, I haven’t mastered the peaches not browning despite my excessive use of lemons. Pipe in if you are a pro at the keeping the peaches yellow rather than brown.
Where are they now? Back in the freezer. I will be making jam with the peaches, or salsa, or something else lip smacking good.
Who says the animals have to have all the fun?
Join the Conversation
- Do you have any tricks on how to peel your peaches?
- How do you keep them from browning?
Marla says
Hi Anna, I don’t have any ideas about peaches but I love this post. It was so funny. I can just see you crawling on the ground picking those peaches up and horrified at the poor dead rabbits you found. Not that the dead rabbits are funny its just the idea. Thanks so much for sharing.
Anna@Green Talk says
Marla, the sad thing is it is true. My plants are like my children…Anna
Lori Popkewitz Alper says
We have a peach tree in our yard and it rarely produces fruit-but when it does there are tons of peaches. Unfortunately my kids don’t love peaches. Maybe if the skin was removed they would eat them? Thanks for the simple tip!
Anna@Green Talk says
Lori, try and see. It is really easy to take off the peels this way. Anna
karen says
Never tried freezing but it makes sense. If it works for tomatoes, why not for peaches. Mmmmm……I smell a peach cobbler coming up… want my recipe? It’s sweet, buttery, and really really yummy. It’s so unhealthy it might kill you but you’ll die with a smile on your face. But no peach fuzz.
Anna@Green Talk says
Karen, do you have a link for the recipe. I was thinking basil peach jam…