How to peel a peach

Peeling peaches is a messy and not very fun process. The easiest way to peel a peach is to blanch it first. To blanch something you stick it into very hot water and then cool it in very cold water. This loosens up the skin of the peach and makes it come off easily. The next recipe that I'm posting is for peach cobbler made with fresh peaches, so I thought I would share the peach peeling process with you now.

You will need:
Fresh peaches
2 plates
A knife
Some sort of spatula
A bowl
Medium pot
Water
Ice

Fill the pot with enough water so that the peaches will be fully submerged when placed in the pot. Heat this water to a light boil.

Fill a bowl with water and some ice. You want this water to be nice and cold.

Take your peaches and place them on a plate. Gently cut an X into the bottom of each peach. You only need to cut through the skin of the peach.

Once the water is at a boil, place a few peaches into the water for 30 to 60 seconds. The water in the picture doesn't look like it is at a simmer, but it is.

After the peaches heat for the allotted amount of time, scoop the peaches out of the hot water with the spatula and place them into the icy water to cool. Leave them in the cold water for at least a minute. This prevents the peaches from cooking anymore.

Repeat this process with all of the peaches you need to peel. Place the blanched peaches on another plate so you don't blanch the same peach twice.

Peel the skin off of each peach, starting at the X on the bottom. The skins should peel off easily. Place the peeled peaches on the original plate. Throw away the skins unless you want to keep them for some reason.

Cut the peaches into quarters down to the pit, but not through the pit. The fruit should fall away from the pit.

Dispose of the pit and scrape off the prickly red part. Repeat with all of the peaches.

And now you have peaches that are ready for baking!

Enjoy!