Blanching peaches to remove skins

@sarabclever - how disappointing! My family has a peach orchard, and I know the taste of peaches when they are at their best and their worst. Very glad your pie came out ok!

Yes, this was the one time I hadn't bought from the farmer's market, and when storebought I usually don't use immediately just for the reason that they aren't fullly ripe. It was one of those emergency situations...pie still came out OK but would have preferred farmer's market peaches.

You are correct in that your peaches weren't ripe enough. Commercially grown peaches are picked green because they are easily bruised when being transported. And in my experience at least half of them don't ripen because they are picked too soon. In the Northwest we still have ripe peaches at the Farmer's Market because our growing season started so late. And canning peaches (freestone's) always ripen the last of the season. My recommendation when buying peaches is to find out where they are coming from. Hauled long distances, not good. Local, better chance. Smaller growers, better peaches.

Freestone peaches are lots easier to peel than cling peaches. and it's hard to know which they are unless there's a sign telling you that. With Freestone peaches, even when they're less than optimally ripe, a quick run through the blanching pot works for me.

As for using the skins, my gastroenterologist, years ago, advised that peach skins are totally indigestible, and should not be eaten, if at all possible. Just fwiw.

Thanks--I do have a serrated peeler. the recipe I was making said "optional" to leave the skins on (all about being rustic, etc.) so I went with that, but it's a good thing to keep in mind if I'm making something where the skins would be a problem. I got my serrated peeler at the suggestion of my MIL who uses it for tomatoes too!

I think you could be right that they weren't ripe enough--I've also found that harder peaches don't give up their skins easily. Kuhn-Rikon makes a serrated peeler and it works great for peeling fruit. I got mine at TJMaxx about a year ago. You might want to see if you can find one. (I use it a lot.)