Peaches galore!

Now on our way back from Houston I stop at a peach stand, it's peach season here in Texas and I love me some peaches!!! I pick up enough for a pie and come home exhausted, to a house that the hub and son have been living in for the last few days.  Needless to say when I get home there is no time to mess with the peaches there's laundry and house cleaning calling my name and I am on another small road trip tomorrow so tonight at 11:00 I look at those peaches, knowing they will be bad by the time I get back.  I decide I will blanch them.  Blanching is a really easy technique if you have never tried it give it a try you will love it.  It is a great alternative to canning, I don't can!

First thing you do is put a big pot of water on to boil.  As the water is boiling I cut an "X" in the top and bottom of every peach, kinda like scoring it.  It will make the skin come off very easily when you are done. Once the water is boiled I drop about 10 - 12  peaches into the boiling water and leave them in there for about a minute.

 Then I fill a bowl full of water and ice to get the peaches ready for an ice bath.

Aren't you glad you aren't a peach at this point, from boiling to freezing in 1 minute!

Once you remove them from the ice bath the peach skin peels right off.

They are so much prettier like this and so tempting to eat! You could stop right here and eat them or use them for your pie but I am going to freeze them until I have the chance to make the pie.

I simply cut all around the peach once and then continue to cut slices cutting toward the pit. If your peaches are ripe it should be really easy to get the peach to release from the pit, if not you may not have very good tasting peaches. I hope you give this a try it is my favorite way to eat a peach!