How to Blanch Peaches for Easy Peeling

You can learn how to blanch peaches with my step by step tutorial.  This way you will peel the peaches easily and avoid waste.

Today I want to share how to blanch peaches post which you can refer to when you want to peel peaches or even tomatoes effectively.  This post’s aim is to show how you can avoid waste of peaches as much as possible.  I’ll continue with how to pit peaches.

You can use this easy way to peel peaches while making my delicious peach bars that are so easy to make as well.

What is Blanching?

• You can use this technique to keep vegetables’ and fruits’ color, texture and nutritional value as fresh as possible.
• The blanching method is also great to remove the skin of some vegetables and fruits.  Peaches and tomatoes are the most commonly used ones for this purpose.
• You can also use blanching to remove any bitter taste of the orange skins while making candied orange peels.  This method can also be used while making candied lemon slices.

The blanching step is very easy.  First, the food is placed in boiling water for some time depending on the food, then shocked; food is placed in ice-cold water to stop cooking and keep its color, texture and nutritional value. 

Why You Should Try Blanching

You can definitely peel peaches with a knife or a vegetable peeler but sometimes peaches are so soft that it will be easier to use the blanching method.  Whether your peaches are ripe or not there will be no waste of peaches which makes this method appealing. 

If you need to peel lots of peaches, I highly recommend blanching. 

Please note that if the peaches are too stiff as a rock, this method won’t work effectively.

How Long to Blanch Peaches

It can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the ripeness of the peach.

As there is no specific answer to how long to blanch peaches, it is best to test one of the peaches to understand how much time is needed, then you can blanch peaches in batches with that amount of time.  

If you keep the peaches in water too short, they won’t peel, if you keep them too long than needed, they’ll be mushy.  So testing one of the peaches is a good way to start. Even if you make it wrong with one peach, you’ll get an idea of how to make it right with others.

You can use this technique in many recipes such as peach bread, peach pie recipe, peach breakfast cake, jams and many other yummy recipes.  

How to Peel Peaches with Blanching Method

First, bring a med-large pot of water to a boil.  The water should completely cover the peaches.  I use almost 2 liters for 3-4 peaches.

While the water is boiling, prepare an ice water bath for shocking the peaches to avoid them cooking: fill a large bowl with cold water and ice, set aside.

Then make a shallow “X” sign at the bottom of the peaches. Later as the peaches expand, you can start to peel the peaches from there.   The “X” sign is a must especially when you are blanching tomatoes but you don’t necessarily need that sign for peaches, but I make it just in case. 

Place peaches in boiling water for almost 25 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the ripeness of the peaches to loosen their skin.  As I mentioned before, make a test with one peach to understand the amount of time needed. 

You can also start to peel from the top, in some cases, some peaches’ skin starts to loosen from the top quickly.  I’ll show how to peel from there later below. So if you skip this step that’s fine, this method will still work. You can even score anywhere and start to peel from there.

Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon so you won’t be taking any hot water, then place the peaches into an ice water bath to stop cooking. 

Let them stay in an ice water bath for almost 1 minute.  

Then you can remove the skin with your hands or use a pairing knife if needed. The sign “X” you made will let the skin easily removable. 

 You can also peel from the very top. First, try to pull a small part, it should easily come off. 

Then you can start to peel with your fingers.      

Once you make this method, you’ll realize that peeling the peaches is a sticky process but it is worth it as you avoid wasting.

How to Pit Peaches

Using a sharp knife (I use a chef knife in the picture below but pairing knife is fine too) cut the peaches from middle top to bottom.  Your knife should be touching the pit while doing this.

Then hold the peach with your hands and gently twist it with your hands to separate the halves.

Next using your fingers or a knife, remove the pit.

I hope you enjoy this post and make delicious recipes with peaches!

My Other How-To Posts You May Like!

• How to Make Dried Apples
• Homemade Condensed Milk
• Homemade Lemon Curd
• Homemade Tahini
• How to Toast Sesame Seeds
• How to Make Dried Bananas
• How to Blanch Almonds

I love hearing from you!  If you try this blanching method please leave a comment and give a star rating!

Update Notes:  I originally shared this post on August 23, 2019.  Today I republish it with extra information.