Peaches are so delicious in desserts (sweet tarts, peach melba), canned in a jar (such a treat in the winter!) or in preserves (love those chunks!). It is often best to peel them before starting your recipes however. Unfortunately, not so easily done without either crushing them or loosing too much of that precious juicy peach flesh. But did you know that with a few quick extra steps, you can easily peel a peach in less than a couple of minutes? So check below for our easy trick on how to peel peaches — you will never turn back! And this tip also works for apricots, nectarines, tomatoes, etc. All you need are:
- A pot of boiling water
- A bowl of cold water with ice cubes (ice bath)
- A pointy knife (paring knife for example)
- And of course nicely ripe peaches
So let’s get started!
How to Peel Peaches in 4 Easy Steps
Art of the Home Tip on How to Peel Peaches
- Boil some water in a big pot (enough to hold all the peaches – if not you can do them in batches) and prepare a bowl of water with ice.
- Using the point of a knife, score the peach by marking an X at the bottom of the peach (opposite the stem) as shown in the above picture.
- When the water is boiling, put in the peaches. This will loosen the skin of the peaches and will make them very easy to peel without wasting any peach flesh. Leave them in the boiling water for less than 60 seconds (a bit more if your peaches are not very ripe).
- Pick them up with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl of ice water. After a few seconds, remove the peaches from the ice bath. With the tip of your knife (or your fingers), grap a piece of skin from a corner of the X you marked and start pulling off the skin, it will come right off. And voilà!