Ttoday’zs posot was gpiong to be “The Art of Putting on Fake Fingernails”, but I’ve since discovered they nake typing incredibly difficult and prbobly shouldn’t be promoted.
Please excude me while I remove my trrail pair. Back in a flashj.
O.K.! Let’s try this again.
The Art of Peeling a Peach!
Which is not a euphemism by the way. I’m not referring to any bodily organs or functions, male or female. I’m plain and simple going to show you how to quickly peel an actual peach.
The reason for this? Well, there are many … not the least of which is the fact that peach fuzz makes my teeth itch. It’s kind of like eating a sheep. I understand you can simply run the peach under water and rub the fuzz off, but sometimes … a gal doesn’t want to bite through the skin. Which also isn’t a euphemism.
I’m sure that many, perhaps even most people, already know how to easily peel a peach*, but until every living soul upon this earth knows how to peel a peach I will not rest. I’m funny like that.
To Peel a Peach
1. Gather a Pyrex measuring cup (or any container that can withstand hot water) and a peach.
2. Drop peach into cup.
3. Cover peach with boiling water.
4. Allow peach to sit in water 1 minute.
5. Remove peach from water with tongs. Not your bare fingers. That would be dumb. And you’re not dumb, right?
6. Once the peach has cooled for a few seconds, you can pull the skin off easily.
7. See?
8. Admire naked peach. (which is a euphemism by the way)
*Please just disregard this post completely. Since writing it, my boyfriend has informed me that even HE knew how to peel a peach and in fact taught “Old Mrs. McNaughton” how to do it when he was about 12. Evidently she was the last surviving person to NOT know how to peel a peach. Sheesh.
Beautiful–I love how the peach takes on a blush from the skin, too. My MIL showed me how to peep a peach when she bought 2 bushels of peaches to can. After spreading the peaches out–2 inches apart each way–oon newspaper in her basement cuz she’d have no place to sit if she used her livingroom for this, and she would let them ripen a bit more. Then on canning day, she gathered them all up to bringto the kitchen. Note: I took a day of work off for this. Then she showed me how to stand over the skink to peel a peach, with 3 bowls: one to catch the juice dripping for the syrup, one for the skins to compost, and one for the pits to toss. I got to peel one, just one peach, in 10 hours of marathon peeling cuz they were so ripe they’d spoil. She didn’t like the way I did it–not perfectly enough for her. Then, 10 yrs later my new SIL asked how MIL ever got all her canning done by herself, oh my! Response, in front of me, “Well, I didn’t have any good help until now.” Yeah. She’s not fond of me… Got a book and taught myself to can. If you can read, you can do anything.
True. ~ karen!
OMG, I’ve come back to this nearly 4 years after it was written and your comments about “not a euphemism” clicked in my brain. Now, I suddenly realize what the 1972 Allman Brothers album, “Eat A Peach” refers to! And I confirmed it on Snopes.com!
So I learned 2 things here! Thanks, Karen!
Born and raised in GA, the peach capital of the universe (perhaps a slight exaggeration) and I did not know how to peel a peach. Good to know and thanks for the info!
Well, I didn’t know how to peel a peach I am so glad you posted this! Thank you!
Excellent! And you’re welcome. 🙂 ~ karen!
I didn’t know you could peel peaches…hmm. Ya learn something new every day!
I did not know how to peel a peach. Now I do. Because of you. I may never actually do it… (I don’t like the fuzz either however I don’t think I am patient enough to wait for it to get cold again after the boiling water… and I’m not really the “plan ahead for a peach” kind of girl) But if I do find a reason some day to peel a peach and someone notices and is impressed… I will give all the credit to you.
There are “freestone peaches” and “clingstone peaches”? … um, that would explain a lot….
I didn’t know how to (properly) peel a peach. Just peeled a couple for my mother last week — and completely mangled the poor innocent things.
I am new to your blog and love it. Thanks for posting about peaches.
Thanks Roxanne … and you’re welcome! ~ karen
After reading today’s post on peeling a mango I had to find your peach peeling post. And for the record, I did not know how to peel a peach until reading this. THANK YOU for bringing me up to speed since apparently everyone knows this already. 🙂
Works with tomatoes too.
Hi Karen,
First off, I find your blog entertaining. Second, I am writing this just in case you have held my ‘peach contribution’ b/c you think I might be some kind of nut. 😛 Fear not, I am relatively normal (relative to people who fill shoes with kitty litter and open wine with logs, for instance — although 1. ten yrs ago the cork broke when using a conventional opener, so I put a screw in the cork and pulled it out with pliers, and 2. my solution to summer shoe stink is pull out the insoles and replace with leather liners to last one season…btw, flats purchased at Joe Fresh must have some special liner from China ‘cuz they don’t stink no matter what). Anyway, I merely asked about your abs because since I quit my stress job 3 yrs ago I lost thirteen pounds but still have 8 sitting around my middle and the thought of having to do a hundred thousand sit ups each year for three years straight is too daunting. But maybe it’s not as bad as that. And you did say to ask you ‘anything’, right?! As for me including the link for my website — I wasn’t expecting to have it referenced, that was just so you know my peach story. I set the site up so I can have a place to highlight things of interest to me, but it’s not a blog b/c I’m not that clever. In parting, I was at PC today and I wanted to buy the freestone peaches and they must have had 4-5 different kinds of peaches available and not one said freestone (no better than Sobeys), so I bought the ones that said ‘excellent for baking’ and I just hope they are freestone. 😛
Hey Ana! Nope, I didn’t think you were a nut-job. Your comment was marked as spam for some reason. When I found it I “un-marked” it and approved it, but for some reason it WILL not approve. I’ve tried over and over again. Must be a WordPress glitch. I haven’t been able to get to all my Ask karen questions lately, but I DO remember yours! I was going to send you the link to my explanation of my abs. (it’s a popular topic) Here ya go! Karen’s Abs.
I tried it last night and … it didn’t work! Well, it worked for one out of the four peaches I tried, and I had to leave it in the water for about 10 minutes. What’s up with that?
Pete! That’s horrible. It’s pretty much a fool-proof method. Peach? Check. Hot water? Check. Peeled Peach? Check. The only thing I can assume is that you were using some bizarre peach. Perhaps they weren’t ripe or were raised by aliens or something. Was it a regular, fuzzy, freestone peach?
Regular peaches on sale at the grocery store. I don’t typically buy peaches, so maybe they weren’t ripe… I’ll give it another shot once the shame of failing at something so simple subsides.
Pete! Give it another shot and let me know how it goes. (hopefully it’ll go well … otherwise you may just have to go to canned peaches) 🙂 Which quite frankly, I know I’m supposed to poo-poo and hate, but I don’t.
A peach is a fruit?
I’m glad to know this….does it make the peach taste cooked?
I never eat peaches unless someone else peels them for me — I’m too lazy to do it myself, and I too hate the feel of peach fuzz. Now I guess I’ll have to try this method. Usually I just eat nectarines instead, which are just un-fuzzy peaches, right?
Hi Vegeater. Doing this won’t make your peach taste cooked. However … don’t leave it in the water any longer than 1 minute … otherwise it WILL tastes like it’s cooked ’cause that’s exactly what it will be. 🙂 – karen
No joke, I recently attempted to make the Sobeys “Peach Pie for Beginners” and got stuck on the first task…Peaches: peeled, pitted and sliced.
As it turns out, I did NOT know how to peel a peach. I also did not know that I was supposed to purchase freestone peaches. I bought the ‘punnet (basket) of Compliments Fresh Peaches’ as recommended in the recipe, turns out that they’re clingstone. After ending up with 3 mushy peaches, I gave up. So much for a ‘foolproof’ recipe! Any tips on how to identify freestone peaches?
http://www.compliments.ca/en/Inspired-Magazine/Summer-2010/Everyday/Cooking-Class.aspx
Thanks for the info. I normally don’t eat peaches because I can’t stand the fuzzy skin. Now I just might start eating them again.
I’ve been doing this a LOT lately. I got a bunch of peaches last weekend and so far I’ve peeled peaches like this 4 times for different recipes. Such a great little trick!
I didn’t know how to peel a peach. That is what generally keeps me from buying them, since I hate to bite through the skin. Now that I know, I’ll probably pick some up tonight!
It sounds like your boyfriend is calling a bunch of us dumb. Fruit genius snob!
Just yesterday got a box of peaches delivered to my door from a neighbor friend, and I did not know how to peel a peach. But I did know how to peel a tomato which is exactly the same way. So I guess I qualify for the dumb catagory. thanks
I’ve never even thought about peeling a peach, seems like too much effort. Doesn’t it make it all slimey and sticky too?
You should also know that I am particularly lazy at peeling stuff in general. Life’s too short to peel tomatoes before making pasta sauce and there’s no way you’d catch me peeling a potato – not even for mash, those bit of skin give my mashed potato character – right?!
I don’t peel potatoes for mash either. My parents always told me the vitamins and nutrients were in the skin. So why get rid of the good part of the potato!
It’s true – the skin of a potato has more potassium than a banana!
Mmm. Yes. It is a bit slimey, but you probably aren’t going to pick it up and eat it like you would a peach with the skin on. You’d do this if you’re making a pie, or mashed peaches. 🙂 You definitely have to peel the peach, so there’s no way around the slimey.
mashed peaches?
Actually, in Italy, we always peel our peaches before eating them. We feel the texture of the skin, especially if it is tough or still too fuzzy as so many grocery peaches are these days, impedes the pleasure of eating the soft, almost creamy texture of the peach itself. We do not find it “slimy” at all. Quite the opposite, it improves the experience.
I must be one of those few people left on earth that did not possess this knowledge. Considering peaches are my favourite fruit, I will definitely be using this trick. Thanks!
O.K. I’m feeling relieved. And a little concerned that my boyfriend might be some sort of fruit genius. That doesn’t sound right. He is a peach genius.
fruit genius..HA!
I had no idea you could do that! Does it work with any other fruits? Kiwis? Apples?? I would love if it worked with apples but I suspect not. 🙁
Hi Caroline! Again … phew. The only other “fruit” I use this method on is tomatoes. Takes the skin off lickity split. I can’t believe I just used the phrase lickity split. Wow. What’s happening to me?
This doesn’t work on kiwis but the easiest way to peel a kiwi is to cut the end off a teeny bit and then insert a teaspoon under the skin and go all the way around the kiwi with it. I’ll do a photo post on it next week to show you how easy it is. – karen!
well I didn’t know how to do it & I am a kitchen genius!
Any idea on how to cleanly halve them without squishing juice everywhere?
Oh thank God. Honestly. I was beginning to worry I was posting the kitchen equivalent of “How to open a door!”. No idea how to halve it w/out squashing juice. 🙂 Mmm … maybe you’re waiting until they’re too ripe and juicy and delicious and yummy! Or maybe you’re buying Clingstones which are almost impossible to cut in half. Those would be my guesses. As you were, kitchen genius! 🙂
Shannon, did you try cutting down the middle of the peach (but around the stone. Does this make sense?), then twisting the two halves off the pit? I usually do that and it doesn’t get too messy. The only thing is one half will still have the stone attached, so you just have to cut that half in half and pop the two pieces off…voila.
Or now was it my turn to just post the kitchen equivalent of “how to open a door”?