Got pretty excited at the farmer’s market because it’s peach season again?
Perhaps you ended up coming home without knowing what to do with your boxes of fresh peaches?
How to store peaches? You can store peaches in several ways, but it will depend on its current state of ripeness. Keep unripe peaches at room temperature until they are perfectly ripe. You can retain the freshness of a ripe peach for at least four more days by putting the whole fruit in the fridge, away from other produce. To keep them fresh longer, peel them, cut them in half, remove the pit, and prepare them for freezing to use at a later time.
It will definitely come in handy knowing how to store peaches and keeping your fruit fresh!
How do you keep peaches from spoiling?
Aside from being very delectable, peaches are very plump and delicate.
The problem is that they can easily bruise and spoil, and keeping them nice and fresh seems to require some effort.
Loving the sweet summer taste of this fruit makes any effort of keeping it fresh so easy.
Here’s how:
Things to do to keep peaches from spoiling:
- Store peaches in a clean, dry place.
- Sit peaches on their shoulders (the side where you cut the stem), preferably not touching to avoid bruising.
- Wash already clean peaches just before you peel and consume them.
- Put ripe peaches in the fridge, consume them before they become dehydrated, or peel them and prepare for freezing.
- Check the quality of your peaches every day.
Things to avoid to keep peaches from spoiling:
- After purchasing from the market, do not leave peaches stacked in a pile. The ones in the bottom will surely bruise and rot.
- Do not store wet peaches; gently dry them first before storage.
- Do not put unripe peaches in the fridge. This will hinder the ripening process and cause your peaches to have undesirably inconsistent coloring and flavor.
Should you wash peaches before storing them?
As with any produce, it is best to wash peaches just before using them, but it is never wrong to keep your fruits clean.
Only buy farm-fresh, clean peaches from the market so that you won’t have to wash them long before you consume them.
Washing and cleaning are especially useful when you pick the peaches directly from the farm.
This rids the fruit of chemical residues from sprayed pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers. Likewise, it helps you notice rot and bruises quickly.
Just remember to keep the peaches dry to avoid spoilage due to moisture. You can gently dry a washed peach with a kitchen towel.
Level of Ripeness
Similar to bananas, apples, avocados, and other fruits, peaches produce ethylene gas as a hormone to regulate the ripening.
Since ethylene production is a natural process, peaches do not ripen at the same time. Some will take a longer time to ripen than others.
To properly store peaches, always check the level of ripeness of each peach.
You may have to sort a bushel of peaches based on how far along each has gone through the ripening process.
indications of the level of ripeness for a peach:
- If a peach is hard as a baseball, it is not yet ready for harvesting.
- You can harvest a peach when it is as firm as a tennis ball, but let it sit at room temperature for a few days before eating it.
- If a peach can absorb a gentle press without bruising, it is about to ripen and reach the perfect flavor. Give it a little press to find out.
- Peaches are ready to eat when they are mushy and when they bruise easily.
- Gushy peaches are overripe and best for purees and jams.
- If you notice inconsistencies in hardness, softness, color, and scent, these indicate cell structure breakdown, which may cause a peach not to ripen correctly.
Ways on How to Store Peaches
Here are different ways to store peaches:
Unripe
You may have gone over-excited and ended up purchasing peaches that are not yet ripe.
The only way to achieve the best flavor for your unripe peaches is by leaving them on the kitchen counter at room temperature.
Keep them fresh by sitting them on their shoulders, preferably not touching to reduce contact points and avoid bruising.
A firm peach will stay fresh in this position and be ready to eat in a few days.
Can’t wait to eat those peaches?
Put two or three peaches in a brown paper bag to trap the ethylene gas and speed up the ripening process to just one or two days.
Still too long for your craving?
Place a ripe banana along with the peaches inside that brown bag to hasten the ripening a bit more.
Ripe
After satisfying your cravings and you still have a lot of whole ripe peaches left, here’s what you should do to store them properly.
Make them stand separately on their shoulders inside the fridge to keep them fresh for at least four more days.
Always check for wrinkles on the skin, indicating that the fruit is losing its juices.
The cold air inside the refrigerator causes the dehydration of plump fruits. When this happens, consume them immediately.
How to Peel Ripe Peaches
It is best to peel a peach and keep its shape while it is still firm.
Follow these steps for the easiest way to peel peaches:
Step 1: Boil some water in a pot big enough to hold the peaches you need to peel.
Step 2: Get a paring knife and gently score the bottom of each peach with an “X” shallow enough to pierce the skin.
Step 3: Blanch the peaches in boiling water for a little less than a minute to separate the skin from the pulp.
Step 4: While blanching, prepare an ice bath in a basin big enough for the peaches.
Step 5: Put the blanched peaches into the ice bath and pat dry each one after cooling them down.
Step 6: Easily slip the skins off from the pulp, starting from the corners of the “X” scoring at the bottom.
Perfectly ripe peaches have a very delicate surface. They have sensitive skin that you can easily peel using your finger’s tip.
Whole
Peeled or not, you can store whole peaches in the fridge. However, if you have already peeled them, make sure to cut each in half and remove the pit.
After, coat pitted peaches with syrup or some citrus juice to preserve its texture and quality for later consumption.
Sliced
The best way to freeze peaches is by slicing them first.
To do this, line the peach slices separately on a baking sheet and freeze them overnight.
Transfer the frozen slices into a freezer bag for more compact storage once they are already frozen.
Fridge
When storing peaches in the fridge, here are a few things to keep in mind:
How long are peaches good for in the fridge?
As a general rule, whole ripe peaches can last in the fridge for around four days or until before the skin starts to wrinkle.
After this, you must consume them immediately or consider peeling and then freezing.
Frozen peaches can last up to six months in the freezer of a combo fridge and freezer and up to 10 months in a stand-alone freezer.
Will peaches ripen in the refrigerator?
Fruits still produce ethylene gas and continue to ripen at a much slower rate in the fridge.
However, peaches will not correctly ripen when stored unripe in the fridge. They will end up having an unpleasant taste and texture.
Conclusion
Always remember never to put peaches in the fridge before they become perfectly ripe.
Let nature do its magic by letting the fruit ripen on its own or speed it up a bit with the help of a brown bag and a ripe banana.
Only consider using the fridge or the freezer when the peaches reach perfect ripeness.
Always store peach slices or halves in the fridge or freezer in sealed containers or plastic bags so that you can enjoy the same quality once thawed at a later date.
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