Storebought peaches - from hard/unripe to rotten. They never got ripe/yummy!

[Pegasus]

I don't understand. Sometimes I buy fruit such as peaches or plums, leave them on my counter for a day or two and they ripen and are yummy. Other times, I do the same thing, checking them daily for ripeness and they go straight from hard/unripe to rotten. I've even had them start to get soft, cut them up, and they are a hideous combination of tart crispness (not ripe enough) and yucky overripe/mush.

 

Am I doing something wrong or is the fruit just bad? Can I tell before I buy it if it will ripen or rot?

 

I want my own fruit trees!

 

Pegasus

[Cinder]

I don't have an answer for you but I was just saying the same thing to mil today. The last time I had a good peach was about 20 years ago when a farmer from Alabama sold tree-ripened peaches at the Air Force base where I was stationed. So now all peaches are compared to those perfect ones and so far none come close.

 

Cinder

[Daisy]

They are picking them too early. Once picked, they never get any sweeter.

 

I'm glad I have my own nectarine and apricot tree.

 

My suggestions it to try and find a u-pick place or buy from a farmer's market. We buy through a local organic co-op and they have wonderful fruit.

[OnTheBrink]

Try putting them in a paper bag for a day or two. That helps ripen them, but Daisy's right; they do pick them too early.

[Julie in Austin]

A friend and I are learning to can this summer.

 

We bought 50# of peaches and then went from rock hard to moldy.

 

Not fun.

[Luckymama]

Definitely picked too early. I now only buy in-season fruit from a farmers' market, the co-op in town, or I go to a pick-your-own farm. I've been burned many times by mealy peaches or sour apples, bleh.

[KrissiK]

Definitely picked too early. I'm so sorry. I worked in the fruit industry when I was in high school and it's a crying shame the stuff they pack and ship. You haven't really tasted a peach until you've tasted one that's been ripened on the tree. Plant yourself a tree. Plant a fruit salad tree. We have one. It's a tree that's plum rootstock, but they grafted a peach branch (the peach branch is an old old variety, too, before they started altering them so they're more shelf stable), and a nectarine branch and left a plum branch. It's wonderful being able to grow your own fruit.

[RoughCollie]

I hadn't had a fresh peach in 20 years until I moved to PA because of that problem. The grocery store's peaches were rock hard when we lived in the Boston area, and nothing I did turned them into real Southern peaches. The kids were amazed when they tasted fresh peaches for the first time. We ate so many that day that I started to wonder if there were such a thing as poisoning by peach.

 

The PA peaches were good, but they still weren't the juice running down your chin peaches I was used to in Georgia.

Edited August 1, 2010 by RoughCollie

[duckens]

PEACHES

Peaches are ready for picking when about 75% of the green ground color has become yellowish. It's not really the red color that's important. Keep your eye on the ground color. The best quality is obtained in peaches if they are allowed to ripen completely on the tree. Since they don't store well anyhow, there is not too much advantage in picking them before the ripe stage. If you do pick them too early, they will probably turn rubbery and remain sour.

From this website:

 

http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/tree004/tree004.htm

 

Some fruit quit ripening the minute they are picked; others continue to ripen.

 

Avocados will not ripen unless picked. I've read that they can stay on the tree for up to 9 months until a good market time for the seller.

 

As for sweet, fresh peaches (and in our house, watermelon), a lot of our modern food is limited to only a few species/subspecies. Those chosen are not usually the sweetest or juiciest. It is usually the largest, the ones that transport the best, and the ones with the longest shelf-life.

 

How sad for the diversity of life.

[stripe]

As for sweet, fresh peaches (and in our house, watermelon), a lot of our modern food is limited to only a few species/subspecies. Those chosen are not usually the sweetest or juiciest. It is usually the largest, the ones that transport the best, and the ones with the longest shelf-life.

 

How sad for the diversity of life.

According to "Fruit varietals: Identity crisis in the produce aisle" (June 24, 2010, LA Times):

 

There are 230 varieties of peaches grown in California, freestone and clingstone, heirloom and newly developed, flavorful and bland, but when you go to the grocery store and even many farmers markets, they're usually sold just as "peaches."

 

The identification of a fruit's variety is the single most important piece of information consumers have in deciding what it will taste like and whether to buy, but the era in which consumers could look for distinctive varieties by name — Fantasia nectarine, O'Henry peach, Santa Rosa plum — is rapidly passing.

 

Aside from apples and pears, most fruits are typically not identified by variety at markets, and have not been for years.

 

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-anonymous-20100624,0,2184560.story

[KrissiK]

According to "Fruit varietals: Identity crisis in the produce aisle" (June 24, 2010, LA Times):

 

The identification of a fruit's variety is the single most important piece of information consumers have in deciding what it will taste like and whether to buy, but the era in which consumers could look for distinctive varieties by name — Fantasia nectarine, O'Henry peach, Santa Rosa plum — is rapidly passing.

 

 

As a fruit farmer's daughter and granddaughter from California, I can testify that this is true. It's horrible what is shipped from our state, especially when you really know what a good piece of fruit can be like. The three varieties of fruit mentioned are outstanding, though I would also add the Elberta peach, which has not been sold commercially in years. I just had a tree ripened Elberta peach sliced on my oatmeal this morning. Delicious. I'm not sure what the answer is. I do know that there are some farmers/truckers out here who take orders from repeat customers and then transport tree-ripened fruit directly to their customers, but that's expensive and not very practical. Perhaps if consumers pressured the small supermarkets to buy directly from the farmer fruit that has been left hanging a little longer the quality may get a little better.

[melissel]

It's just heartbreaking, isn't it? It kills me when they look so beautiful and perfect on the outside and are so rotten and mealy and flavorless inside. We only eat peaches and nectarines when they're in season and locally available here. I've been disappointed too many other times.

 

Avocados will not ripen unless picked. I've read that they can stay on the tree for up to 9 months until a good market time for the seller.

 

Well, this is so interesting! I had no idea. It makes me feel so much better about buying those hard avocados at the store. I used to get so mad that they were selling ones picked too early--now I know that they're good and fresh. Thanks for sharing that!

[Heather in AL]

I have given up on buying bananas for this very reason!

 

The last month I have bought bananas only to have them go directly from neon green to brown without turning yellow, OR they'll LOOK yellow (when bought) and nice when peeled, but when you bite into them, they are brown with rotten centers.

 

I also think I bought nectarines only once in the last few years because of this.

 

So sad! Not only for the money wasted, or the food wasted, but that it's so hard to eat healthy! Who wants to break a tooth biting in to a nectarine or peach?

 

And don't get me started on the flavorless apples in the stores. Sigh.

 

Wish we had room for fruit trees. :sad:

[OnTheBrink]

It's just heartbreaking, isn't it? It kills me when they look so beautiful and perfect on the outside and are so rotten and mealy and flavorless inside. We only eat peaches and nectarines when they're in season and locally available here. I've been disappointed too many other times.

 

 

 

Well, this is so interesting! I had no idea. It makes me feel so much better about buying those hard avocados at the store. I used to get so mad that they were selling ones picked too early--now I know that they're good and fresh. Thanks for sharing that!

 

And, if you want to slow down their ripening, keep them in the fridge. I buy several at once, keep one out and the rest cold until I'm ready for it.

[Pegasus]

Plant a fruit salad tree. We have one. It's a tree that's plum rootstock, but they grafted a peach branch (the peach branch is an old old variety, too, before they started altering them so they're more shelf stable), and a nectarine branch and left a plum branch. It's wonderful being able to grow your own fruit.

 

This sounds awesome! I'm definitely looking into a fruit salad tree. I hope they'll grow well here (East Tennessee). We've been growing our own strawberries and I've thought about adding some blueberry shrubs.

 

Thanks, everyone!

 

Pegasus

[melissel]

And, if you want to slow down their ripening, keep them in the fridge. I buy several at once, keep one out and the rest cold until I'm ready for it.

 

That's exactly what's happening in my kitchen this very minute :D We love avocados here, yum!

[Momling]

Whenever this happens to me, I always think of the Eddie Izzard sketch about fruit being rock hard... waiting until you leave the room to ripen.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jSE3JANx14

[Britomart]

I'd not bought stone fruit for a long time because I could never get ripe ones, but this past year we subscribed to a couple of CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) and now we're enjoying tons of ripe peaches and nectarines and plums and apricots and pluots!

 

You might have to do some searching around, but if you can find a good one, CSA's are worth their weight in gold. Basically, you buy a share in a local farm, and they give you a basket of what's ripe every week or every other week (depending on the CSA).

 

One of ours is from a local farm and delivers every other week, and I have to go and to the pick-up spot to get it. The other one delivers once a week and delivers to your door. You do have to be willing to menu plan around what's in your basket, but we love it!

[bairnmama]

Whenever I buy fruit in the store, I always smell it at the stem first. I won't buy it if it doesn't smell sweet and ripe. Using this method, I've never failed to get fruit that actually tastes as good as it looks. Of course, I have to put the fruit straight in the fridge and eat it within the week... but it's best that way anyway!

 

I wish we had CSA's around here, but there are absolutely NONE! We do have a couple of pick your own strawberry & blueberry farms, but that's about it. I live in tobacco country.:tongue_smilie: