How to ripen peaches … kitchen helper
Is there anything better than biting into a ripe, juicy peach? Sometimes though they aren’t quite as ripe as you’d like but there is a way to speed up the ripening process so that you can enjoy their sweet goodness sooner.
Most commercially grown stonefruit are picked before they reach full ripeness because they continue to ripen off the tree. If you find yourself with unripe peaches all you need to do is pop them into a brown paper bag out of direct sunlight at room temperature. Within a day or two they will have ripened. If you can’t wait a couple of days you can speed the process up by adding a ripe banana to the bag. Bananas produce ethylene gas which will make the peaches ripen more quickly.
How do you know when peaches are ripe and ready to eat? You use your senses. Ripe peaches will smell sweet, if there’s no smell then they need some more time to ripen. Don’t be tempted to squeeze peaches to test for ripeness because they bruise easily and bruising will make the peach rot faster. Instead give a gentle press; if there is a slight give the peach is ripe. Colour is also a good indicator of ripeness, a green peach is not ripe whereas a good blush of yellow-red colour indicates a ready to eat peach.
Storing ripe peaches depends on how quickly you want to eat them. If you are planning on eating them within 2 to 3 days you can keep them at room temperature, but if you want them to last longer you should pop them in the fridge as this will stop them from ripening further. Don’t keep peaches in the fridge for any longer than a week though because the texture will change and they will become dry and not as nice to eat.
