Do You Have to Peel Peaches for a Pie?

As we enter the hottest (and for me hardest) time of the year, I am grateful that we have peaches.

Tasty fruit that I can sink my teeth into and lick the juice off my chin.

We got more peach talk on the blog today and we are hitting on one of the most important peach questions of the summer. It’s going to be peachy ?

Welcome to Our Pearson Peach Series

In case you are just tuning in, welcome to our Person Peach Series. This summer I am receiving 6 boxes of peaches from Pearson Farm near Fort Valley, Georgia. Each box will contain a different variety of Prince peaches. It’s a fantastic way to experience the different flavors, textures, and colors of the peach.

Each post in our series contains a peach variety review, topic (Do You Have to Peel Peaches for a Pie?), and recipe.  The recipes will be small batch recipes, where you will only need 1 peach to make. Also sprinkled in will be a fact for you about Pearson Farm

Pearson Farm Fact

In this series I am getting to try 6 varieties of peaches. That is only a small sample of about the 50 varieties of peaches that are grown at Pearson Farm. And that 50 is only a fraction of the peach varieties grown in the U.S. Often you will see different varieties grown in different parts of the country because they do best in a certain region. The peach varieties in Georgia are different than the ones California grows or my native Michigan grows.

Scarlet Prince Peach Review

There is a card that comes with every single box of peaches I receive. The card promised me incredible flavor. A bold promise to make, one that you certainly must meet.

I did some research on Scarlet Prince online to see what others were saying. I keep hearing the same thing – great flavor, incredible flavor, super flavorful. So I was more than ready to give them a try.

No disappointment here. Scarlet Prince is the most flavorful peach in this series yet. The peach flavor is balanced with sweet and acidic notes. And yes there was juice dripping down my chin.

Scarlet Prince is known for more than just flavor, it’s not for it’s bloom. Each spring the trees burst forth with beautiful red-tinged flowers that I would love to see and smell first hand. For now I will have to settle for the photo above from Pearson Farm.

The Best Part of the Peach

I don’t know if you have noticed this but peaches seem to be most flavorful towards the bottom. I typically start eating a peach from the top and then move towards the bottom. It seems without exception that the flavor of the peach is better as I move down the fruit.

One reason for that could be that the bottom part of the peach will get the most sunlight. Peaches tend to be darkest in color at the bottom. It was one of the reasons why when I worked in produce we always stock the peach top side down, to show off that beautiful color.

The reason the bottom of the peach is more colorful is because it receives more sunshine. The leaves tend to shade the top parts of the peach. Sometimes you can find a peach with a leaf imprint in it – those are really fun to show the kids.

Do You Have to Peel Peaches for a Pie?

To peel or not to peel. Let this be a question no more. Do not peel. There is no reason to peel the peaches for pie. When you cook them the skin softens up not to be any issue at all. I have cooked many of pies and cobblers with the skin on and not once did it bother me.

It’s a great thing not to have to peel peaches for pies. Saves time and energy. And I love avoiding nicking myself with a peeler.

The skin of the peach will add color and flavor to the pie. There are nutrients found in the skin you don’t want to lose – gives you an excuse to say that pie is healthy!

This Week’s Recipe – Single Serving Peach Cobbler

This week I am here to give you a great revelation – you whip up a single serving peach dessert with just a single peach. Woo hoo!

You just place a peach (unpeeled of course) into a ramekin or a small baking vessel. And sprinkle on a topping simply made of flour, brown sugar, and butter – a delightful easy yet wonderfully tasty combination. You can try it with white whole wheat flour or a combination of all-purpose and white whole wheat flour. Or you can sprinkle on some oats or nuts on top. Or maybe grate some fresh ginger onto the peaches. Really the sky is the limit and you can let your creativity soar.

If you want more than one you simply can times the recipe by how many you like.

Grab your favorite ramekin and give this quick cobbler a try.

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