How I Peel Peaches (and Tomatoes)

I spent most of the day today canning peaches and tomatoes. It's a messy, sticky, and time consuming process, but it's also fun in some sick, twisted kind of way, and it gives me such a sense of accomplishment. "Food prep high," as I've recently come to call it. 

I did 13 quarts and one pint of peaches, and I have three quarts of roma tomatoes processing as I type this. So far, I know at least one jar of peaches didn't seal, so I'll be adding those to my kids' lunches for tomorrow. I'm still waiting patiently to check the rest of them (I'm always so tempted to mess with them before they've sat for the appropriate amount of time). 

Anyway, since I'm on a food prep high, I thought I'd share a little tutorial with you today about how I peel peaches and tomatoes. 

If you've ever canned peaches or tomatoes, you're probably familiar with blanching. I have my mother-in-law to thank for teaching me The Ways. I remember when she first showed me how to blanch tomatoes to get the skins off - it blew my mind! I had no idea you could do that! Twenty(ish) years later, I still think it's pretty miraculous. 

My mother-in-law passed on some pretty cool tips for blanching in large batches, so that's what I'm going to show you today. She taught me to blanch peaches and tomatoes in the sink. Here's how I do it:

First, I make sure the sink is nice and clean. Then I get a nice big pot of water boiling. 

After washing the produce, I plug my sink and put the fruit in it. I have found that filling my sink the amount shown in this picture is usually enough to get a full batch (7 quarts) in the canner with just a few pieces left over (which I usually freeze - but I like to have a bit extra just in case).

When the water has come to a full boil, I pour it over the fruit and let it sit for a few minutes. I gently stir the fruit with a wooden spoon to make sure it all gets immersed in the water. It's important to make sure the sink is properly plugged and that you have enough water to cover the fruit! They float up a bit, and I just press them back down in the water with the spoon. 

If you've never seen this before, here's what happens - the hot water softens the skins and allows them to easily slip off the fruit. You don't have to use a knife or a peeler! It just slides off (with a few exceptions - like, if you have pieces of fruit that aren't as ripe, in which case, you might have to cut off a bit of skin, but for the most part, it's easy peasy, and they slip off like nothing). 

After the skins start to lift off the fruit (with peaches you can see it happening, but with tomatoes, you might have to test one with your fingers), I wait about one more minute (for the stragglers) and then use my wooden spoon to lift the plug out of place to drain the water (common sense tip: don't stick your hand in the boiling water).

After the water drains, I run cold water over the fruit to stop the cooking process (also known as "shocking" the fruit). 

From that point, the skins slide off easily, and I can continue the prepping process for canning.

I also use this method to prep peaches to freeze and even to prep smaller batches of peaches for my kids to have as a snack. 

Anyway, I really like using the sink rather than blanching in a pot. It allows me to blanch a lot more fruit at a time. Go big, or go home, amiright?

Happy peach and tomato season! However you choose to celebrate!