How To Cut A Peach

Craving and savoring sweet, ripe, and juicy peaches are nature's greatest treats during the summertime. This stone fruit is also easy to eat — just grab a napkin because it will be messy. Of course, to savor the freshly picked peaches, the first thing to do is cut them even though you could eat them like how you eat an apple. There are some dishes in which cutting a peach is necessary, like when you make a peach crumble or canning peaches.

Unlike any other fruits, cutting a peach is slightly complicated due to the nature of its skin and stone. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible to do so., Before we take the necessary steps to cut a peach, we should first know how to choose a perfectly ripe peach, which we'll discuss below.

Tool You Will Need

Using a durable, sharp paring knife is the tool you will need to cut a peach. Its hard-sharpened razor edge will ensure stability and an effortless way to cut a peach. Also, you will need a cutting board to slice the peaches. These tools are necessary when you cut a peach.

How to Choose a Peach

A ripe peach quickly goes from firm to overripe in a couple of days. It should not give too much of its skin; it will compress slightly but not too squishy. However, if you poke it and it's squishy, the peach is overripe and will rot very soon. You will also know if it's underripe and won't be ready to eat if it doesn't give its skin such a feeling.

Smelling a peach also helps you know if it's ripe and good to eat; it will give off a pleasant, sweet peachy smell. It will also work if you want to know just by simply touching it; if a peach is heavy for its size and in your hand, it's a good sign that your peach is tasty.

There's a range in the ripeness of the peaches that will determine their use. If the peach is firmer, you could use it for baking, while the one on the riper side is good to eat fresh.

How to Cut A Peach Step by Step

There are two kinds of peaches; a Clingstone peaches and a Freestone peaches. The Clingstone Peaches have a pot or stone that clings to the fruit, and it's hard to remove and often used for canned products, while the Freestone Peaches have pits that fall away easily from the fruit. Markets usually have stocks of freestone peaches.

Now, if you want to peel the skin of a peach before cutting it, there are two ways for you to do that;

1. You can do blanching to remove the skin of a peach

It's a technique that involves putting the fruit in boiling water for a brief time; then, you will put it in an ice bath to remove the fruit. This process will help loosen the skin and be easy to remove. Blanching works well with ripe peaches, in which the skin is already loose. If ever the skin is still firm, then using a paring knife is the other method to peel off the skin of a peach.

2. You can peel the peach using a paring knife

If the peach is firmer, you may want to use a sharp paring knife instead. While holding the fruit in your non-dominant hand, you slide the paring knife's blade under the skin toward the top, just like peeling off an apple or a potato. Make sure that your fingers are out the way so you won't get hurt.

Once you are done removing the skin, you can now start to slice the peeled peach in any size or form you want, like chunks, cubes, or minced. It all depends on where you are going to use a peach.

If you are cutting a freestone peaches, these are the steps on how to cut them;

First, while holding the peach vertically with its stem upwards, using a sharp paring knife, insert its blade carefully until you reach the pit. Then, roll the peach around the paring knife while ensuring that the edge is still touching the pit until you reach the original cut.
The next step is to put down the paring knife and hold the peach in the palm of your hands. Then, twist it so you can separate the two segments. At this point, you can pop the pit off using your fingers. If the pit is sticky, you could use a knife to loosen the pit before removing it using your fingers.
Finally, you can start slicing the peach based on the thickness you desire to have. Depending on where you're using it, you could also cut it into cubes, halves, chunks, or any size.

Delicious Peach Dishes

There are so many recipes that you could do using your freshly ripe peaches. You could make smoothies or fruit salad, even desserts. If you are still thinking about what to make, here are some peach dish recipes that you can find online and you might want to try:

Peach Pie

This dish is a pie that can be baked made from fresh ripe peaches and simple ingredients. The recipe is simple, and it's great to have during summer, especially during peach season.

What you will need are:

One package pantry (15 oz) for a nine inches pie
one beaten egg
Five sliced peeled peaches
lemon juice, just 2 tbsp of it
flour
white sugar, use only one cup of it
teaspoon of the ground cinnamon
teaspoon of the ground nutmeg
One-fourth teaspoon of salt
two tablespoon of butter

Procedure:

It's important to line the bottom and the sides of a nine-inch pie dish with a pie crust. Then, brush some of it with a beaten egg to keep the dough from becoming soft. Make sure your oven is at 450 degrees F while you do this.
Place the sliced peaches in a bowl, sprinkle them with the lemon juice, and mix it gently. You'll need a separate bowl to mix the sugar and all-purpose wheat. Then add the peaches and mix gently. Then, after you've mixed everything, pour it into the pie crust and dot it with a bit of butter. Cover the bottom crust and fold the edges. Frost the edges or press them with a fork dipped in egg to ensure they stay shut. Then, spread the rest of the egg on the top crust and cut a few holes to let the steam out.
Bake it for ten minutes in the preheated oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and then bake for another 30 to 35 minutes until you can see the crust is brown, and the juice bubbles through the vents. Cover it with an aluminum foil halfway through baking if you see the edges turn brown too fast.
Once done baking, cool it before serving. It tastes better warm than hot. Now you can enjoy this peach summer treat with your family and friends!

Peach Smoothie

This recipe is a healthy and peachy smoothie that will make you feel refreshed during the summer! You will need frozen peeled peaches, frozen bananas, milk, nonfat Greek yogurt, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger.

You will get a blender, put all the ingredients into it, and then blend it until you reach the smoothness. Easy steps. And now, you can enjoy this healthy peachy smoothie anytime, every day!

There are more recipes where you can use a ripe peach, and you could even create your own recipe if you want to.

Peach ice cream is perfect if you want a peach dessert after a big meal! If you have homemade vanilla ice cream at home, you could add your sliced fresh ripe peaches to it. These two sweet things are the perfect combination for each other and will delight you, your friends, and your family. If you don't have the ice cream, you could just make a peach ice cream from scratch using the peach ice cream recipe you could find online or just create your own version.

Aside from pies, smoothies, and ice cream, there are more dishes you could make using peaches like appetizers, drinks, cobblers, pizzas, salad, and many more. You will not run out of ideas on what dish you will make.

Peachy-Keen Cooking

If you have peaches and want to use them in any recipe you will make, always remember that you will need a sharp paring knife to cut the peach and a good quality cutting board. Using a dull paring knife to cut a peach is less efficient and dangerous. Peaches are so juicy that using a cutting board with good quality and sturdiness is a must to prevent them from slipping when you start cutting the peaches.

When you are using good equipment, it will guarantee good results. After all, we all want happy results with good delicious peach dishes to eat.