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I have had the best luck with fresh peaches and nectarines this year; they have been beautiful and ripen nicely out of the fridge on the counter...so sweet and juicy that you need a towel or to stand over the sink, to catch the juices....just incredible.
I used to have the same problem as the OP.....hard as rock peaches that turn to sludge at the pit and under the skin as I tried to ripen them in a brown paper bag....with or without an apple companion to get the ripening gases flowing. I had stopped buying them.....but this year they looked so beautiful, and rosy and blemish free....that I tried again.
This year I am in peach heaven.
The same here!
I would suggest speaking with the produce person at your store and ask for advice. If they are not delicious and ripe, take them back.
Brown paper bag and a banana for company. Check every couple of hours.
Won't that make the Banana hard?
(Having a Benny Hill flashback - fun with produce)
Couple things I've noticed with peaches is I have best luck by avoiding the large California types and buying southern or local grown ones. At the grocery produce I check for heavier / denser feeling ones. Depending on how many I purchase, I'll let a few ripen in serving type bowl and if I have a lot I'll refrigerate a few in brown paper bag, place a few in paper bag (open) on counter top and check each day for ripeness with gentle squeeze. Good juicy peaches are best eaten over the sink.
If you want to cut them, I've found the best way is to slice full diameter stem to apex at a 45 degree angle to the peach's natural seam, then do so again at 90 degrees, then once more mid point (like you're making an 'equator', then gently peel back the skin and either eat in hand or place chunks in bowl / topping etc...
As another mentioned, I find sometimes they seemingly go from firm to irregular splotchy looking uneven ripeness - as if they were an old horror movie special effect going from human to transformation in a photo sped up enhanced process. It almost seems as if some (due to the irradiation process perhaps?) never naturally ripen. I don't notice this on the locally grown ones from orchards here in NE Ohio.
The best peaches I had were in the South (as in Georgia) bought from a farm stand. It's more ripe than what the grocery store will ever sell and never went inside a refrigerated truck. The peach actually taste like a peach.
Where I live in MA, there just isn't much peach taste to the fruit no matter how ripe it is. I notice stores will specify Southern peaches or NE/New Jersey peaches. I avoid the latter after experiencing ones that were smushy and tasteless.
Most of the peaches I have bought this summer have been quite hard. A few became ripe and juicy, but most remained hard but eventually developed a soft/borderline rotten outer layer under the skin after I waited for them to ripen (in paper bags).
I've read that peaches that are hard in the store will never ripen- but I can't seem to find any that aren't hard!
I don't have access to a farmer's market.
Any ideas?
We buy ours at Costco and they are hard as a rock. We leave them out at room temp and they soften up in a couple of days, no problem. No paper bag, just room temp.
If I buy them soft, I've always had the best tasting ones when they smelled "peachy". If they didn't have a strong peach smell, they usually weren't any good.
Most of the peaches I have bought this summer have been quite hard. A few became ripe and juicy, but most remained hard but eventually developed a soft/borderline rotten outer layer under the skin after I waited for them to ripen (in paper bags).
I've read that peaches that are hard in the store will never ripen- but I can't seem to find any that aren't hard!
I don't have access to a farmer's market.
Any ideas?
I haven't read the comments yet, but I know, for me, there is no sure way other than picking yourself and that isn't fool proof. Many fruits are hard to judge. You hear cantaloupe must spell like a cantaloupe and be a solid when you thumb it, but I have bought them when neither was the case; had them turn out to be wonderful. Peaches can be purchased still hard and be great it a few days. We had a couple last week, both hard, purchased together: one ripened to a sweet juicy peach, the other was mushy. We usually let ours ripen in the window, but this year, for some reason our peaches just haven't been that good. We have had a really weird summer. The ones, grown locally and for sale in our grocery store are out of our comfort zone, price wise.
Most of the peaches I have bought this summer have been quite hard. A few became ripe and juicy, but most remained hard but eventually developed a soft/borderline rotten outer layer under the skin after I waited for them to ripen (in paper bags).
I've read that peaches that are hard in the store will never ripen- but I can't seem to find any that aren't hard!
I don't have access to a farmer's market.
Any ideas?
I buy peaches every week. I get the white flesh variety and have not been disappointed.
They are hard when I buy them, but soften after a day or so. They can be expensive. Started at 3.98 a pound, but now down to 1.98. They are huge.
I eat one for lunch every day. Figure it is better and cheaper than a burger and fries.
If you live in a place that can grow them, then go to a farmers market. If that's not possible, I suggest visiting a whole foods store as they tend to have excellent produce. In the past when I've bought peaches at the regular store they would go rotten before going ripe, and didn't have nearly the flavor I was expecting. Now I only buy from Chucks Product (if they meet the criteria below, OR the farmers market). I have not been dissappointed, hope this helps:
Ripe peaches should-
- Be somewhat firm but easily dent from a soft push or squeeze (not mushy)
- Smell like a peach
Every Sunday we hit the farmers market to grab a few for the coming week. This year's peaches are fantastic. Good luck!
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