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Love Peaches? Learn How To Ripen Peaches Fast By Using These Three Foolproof Steps

Introduction

Peach is a deciduous tree native to the tropical regions of Northwest China. Known by the scientific name Prunus persica, it is used in a variety of desserts.

Have you ever walked home from the grocery store with a bag full of peaches only to realize that many of them are unripe? You are not alone! There are times where I am too impatient to harvest my peaches before they turn ripe.

I used to refrigerate them with the hopes of extending their life only to be disappointed with their pasty texture later on. Blame the inconsistent ripening process for this!​

But ever since I learned these 3 easy tricks, never once did I have to bite into a disappointingly unripe peach ever again. Would you like to hear about them and learn how to ripen peaches fast?

Peaches and nectarines are in the same species though they do have their little differences. You can use these 3 easy tricks to ripen even nectarines besides using them on peaches.

So what is the big deal about an unripe peach anyway? This is one of those fruits that is hard to gauge the level of ripeness simply by looking at it. Unripe peach is hard, stringy sometimes, contrary to what a juicy mouth-watering ripe peach tastes like.

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What Is This Tutorial About?

I am going to share with you those secrets that helped me create all those perfect peach-infused desserts. I am going to tell you how I corrected my peach ripening procedure once and for all only to be rewarded with flavorful fruits with every single harvest.

If you have still not harvested this year’s fruits, remember that the best tasting peaches are those left to ripen on the tree. But these tricks work even if you do pick them before that.

Before I get into the details about how to ripen a peach, let me tell you a few quick tricks on identifying whether the peach is ripe.

  • Peachy smell –  Oh! That heavenly aroma of a fully ripe peach is hard to miss! If your peach lets out an irresistible ripe scent, it is most likely ripe.
  • Green patches – this is a clear cut sign that the fruit is not fully ripe
  • A fully ripe peach feels soft to touch
  • Ripe fruit also has a nice shape

Now that you have equipped yourself with the information to tell a ripe peach apart from the unripe ones, sort out all those unripe fruits in the lot. Here are the things that you would need in order to execute these clever peach ripening steps.

Paper bag – any simple grocery shopping or lunchbox packing paper bag would do. I am sure you must have a few lying around in your kitchen.

If you do not have even one, but if you have a basket of unripe peaches then you can easily buy something like this set of 100 Large Paper Grocery Bags from Amazon. These are handy for packing lunches and can be easily recycled.

Linen towel – again, your good old kitchen towel would suffice. If you do not currently have clean kitchen linen then check out this durable 3 piece pack of kitchen towels. These are highly absorbent and can easily be reused once you have ripened your peaches with them.

How To Ripen Peaches Fast?

1. For all those – “I am lazy to do anything” peach lovers

The easiest way to ripen a peach is to leave it on the counter. The trick here is to store them right. You need a spot that preferably gets a little sunlight for naturally ripening the fruit.

Too much sunlight can turn your fruit sloppy in some portions. You can use a mesh lid to keep fruit flies away. Remember to place your peaches with the stem side below. The fruits should also not be touching each other.

2. For all those – “I’m impatient to bite into my fruit” peach lovers

This is by far the quickest way to ripen a peach after it is picked and all you need is a humble paper bag. The magic ingredient that helps speed up the ripening of peaches is ethylene.

This is naturally released by the fruit as it turns ripe. The trick here is to trap this ethylene so as to hasten the process.

  • All you have to do is to grab a paper bag and pop some peaches into it.
  • Close the bag on the top and leave it on your counter.
  • Give your peach a day or two to ripen fully. You are a better judge here. Use your nose and feel the softness to decide how much more time the peach should be left in the paper bag.
  • If the fruit isn’t ripe keep checking it in half a day intervals.

There are few shortcuts you can use to further increase the speed of ripening with a paper bag. One is to microwave the unripe fruit, for say 10 seconds in medium settings.

This will jumpstart the ripening process. You can then proceed to add the fruits inside the paper bag as mentioned in the above steps. The other secret is to add a rapidly ripening fruit like a banana which gives out oodles of additional ethylene to ripen the peach.

3. For all those – “I can bear some extra wait time” peach lovers

One other method similar to the one mentioned above is to use kitchen linen.

  • Lay the linen cloth flat on the countertop.
  • Line the peaches with the stem side facing the bottom. Similar to storing the fruit on the countertop, you should make sure that they do not touch each other.
  • Wrap the linen neatly to cover the fruits. The trick here is to block sunlight and to trap ethylene.

This might take one or two extra days than the paper bag method.


Did I Answer Your Question?

You must have come looking for an easy to follow method to ripen your peaches. Did I answer your questions? I hope that my ideas would be useful for you to enjoy perfectly ripe peaches this summer.

Do let me know how long it took for your peaches to ripen with the 3 given tricks. If you have any other innovative ideas, do let me know. I would be glad to try them out with my next harvest.