What is the secret to buying peaches?

[spinbaby]

I love a good peach and have again been seduced by beautiful peaches that turned out to be horrible dry inedible things. I could return them to Costco, no questions asked, but Costco is 30 miles away, so I’m not going to do that. I’m cooking them down into what I hope is a decent peach pie filling.

[dutch777]

1. Fresh from the grower and preferably unrefrigerated. Any fruit/veg from a large retailer is in transit a LONG time.

Things like carrots and cucumbers do okay. Things like peaches do not.

[moniss]

2. I would suggest the tips in this

link. Also it is going to matter what state your peaches are from as to whether they are in season, late season etc. The box should say or the produce dept. personnel. If they don't you're shopping at the wrong place. Big joints like Costco could be getting peaches from lot's of places and you could be getting peaches that were picked early before being very ripe so that they have longer "transit/shelf life". If the peaches are stiff and not ripe you can ripen them more like in the second link for example. There are more ways on-line. It does also matter what variety you are buying and whether you just want a peach for cooking or for eating fresh. If you are canning peaches it's fine to have them be a bit firm because you're going to "cook" them anyway and they'll hold up to slicing perhaps a little better. Big store produce is many times a crap shoot at best. You can end up buying apples with almost no flavor, green beans that a blast furnace couldn't soften and on and on.

For example when you go to the big Kroger owned stores in Wisconsin my experience is that during apple season they will have big bins of 8 different kinds of apples but if you ask their produce people questions about which for eating, pie, sauce etc. all you get is a shoulder shrug. If you are stuck with just big stores for choices you might want to consider ordering from an on-line source. Shipping on this stuff has gotten to be more reliable. I'm sure some places will have a "sampler pack" of several varieties so you could experience some different levels of sweet, meatiness etc. I would check for places in South Carolina and Georgia because I know there are tons of roadside businesses and I'm sure many are doing on-line ordering/shipping. Try to use ones that are an actual orchard and not just a middleman.

https://www.butter-n-thyme.com/peach-season/#peach-producing-states
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-ripen-peaches-2216828

[Freddie]

3. I think peach season is over

July and August I was getting great ones from the farm stand and at Giant. Last 2 batches I bought turned mushy. It was nice while it lasted.

[Jirel]

4. If you aren't in a couple northern(ish) areas, don't even bother.

Much of peach season was over some time ago. We still have a few here and there that are from the US, but most are imported now. There are still some good peaches from the later crop in cooler places like Washington and New York. Buying from Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. is doomed to failure - not only are those generally imported, but they’re picked to look great and travel long distance in refrigeration, which means pretty but unripe and hard as rocks, and they’ll never ripen to taste great.

Rules for good peaches:
- Know where they’re coming from. Anything that has traveled half the country or from out of the country is going to have been grown, picked, and handled to survive long travel, which means they’re doomed from the get-go on taste.
- Mass market in big bags like Costco, Walmart, Target, etc? Already a nope. Don’t even bother looking. Your best bet will be grocers where you can select individual peaches from a display. If it’s pre-bagged (unless you’re literally buying from a grower’s stand or a local grocery that’s buying from very local producers), walk away.
- If you’re seeing peaches (or nectarines) from a relatively close region that’s currently in season, sniff and feel them. No tempting scent? Hard pass. Yes, I know - from some stores, some years that will mean no peaches to buy at all. Are they either mushy or hard as rocks? Again, walk away.

You’re better off buying frozen peaches for cooking and baking, much of the time, if you have quality frozen fruit brands available. Yes, I know that’s just not the same. But, that’s where some of the best fruit winds up when shipping is not “practical” in this mass market. Teeny but intense blueberries, nice peaches that are judged to be unable to get safely to a store, decent strawberries that are considered too delicate to ship versus the nasty wooden ones that look great but wouldn’t be harmed if a truck rolled over… that all goes to the frozen market.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Take them home and put them in a brown paper bag for a day or two. They will get

juicier and softer.

[ret5hd]

6. My somewhat sarcastic response:

you don’t buy them! we get them free from neighbors/parks…along with apples, pears, apricots, etc

[Trueblue Texan]

7. I've had the best results by smelling them.

If they have that glorious peachy fragrance, they're usually a nice, juicy, sweet peach.

[ShazamIam]

9. I agsree if it doesn't smell peachy it won't have any taste. nt

[spinbaby]

13. I'm going to try that

I’ve had good peaches in and out of season from many sources, so smell is going to be the determining factor from now on.

[flying_wahini]

8. Smell. I find them tricky on looks. Not too 'green'. Better over than underripe. ESP if you are cooking them.

[msongs]

10. costco peaches make good baseballs. the nerve of them to say on the box "ripe" lol nt

[Warpy]

11. Fresh peaches in season have been ruined unless you can buy them at an orchard

which is the last place I got decetnt ones. Commercial growers are picking them far too green so they will keep longer and ship better, peaches being one of those very fragile fruits. The result is something that looks like a ripe peach but tastes like nothing.

To get peaches that taste like peaches, I get canned ones. The same goes for tomatoes.

That's my secret to buying peaches.

[Emile]

12. Look for a Freestone Variety. My favorite is Red Haven.