5 Telltale Signs Your Peaches Are Perfectly Ripe—and How to Pick Them Without Bruising

Noting beats a homegrown ripe, sweet, and juicy peach. And if you ever have too many peaches to eat during harvest season, there are numerous ways to preserve your bounty, from peach jam and jelly to canned peaches.

To get the most flavorful peaches, harvesting them at the right time and the right way is key. Peaches need to be picked before they are overly ripe and before wildlife prey on them. No matter what types of peaches you’re growing, this guide will teach you all the basics about how and when to harvest peaches.

When to Harvest Peaches

Most peach trees are self-pollinating and start to fruit about two to four years after planting. Peach harvesting season typically stretches from late June to August, but this varies depending on the type of peaches and your location. Some early-producing cultivars fruit as early as May.

Peaches tend to taste best and have the highest sugar content if they’re allowed to fully ripen on the tree. However, growers often pick peaches a little early to make them easier to handle and ship, or to protect their harvest from hungry birds and other wildlife that commonly prey on peaches as soon as they’re fully ripe. The good news is that peaches that have at least started to ripen will continue to ripen after harvesting, even if you pick them when they’re a little underripe.

If you’re not sure whether your peaches are ready for picking, here are some clues that will let you know it’s time to start harvesting:

1. Color. Underripe peaches are green, while fully ripened peaches should be completely yellow, orange, or red without any lingering greenish tinge. Some peach varieties have a yellow or orange background color with a red or rosy blush. Newer peach varieties are often solid red. Check what the peach variety you are growing should look like when ripe.
2. Texture. Peaches are ready to be picked when they’re still a bit firm, but they should not be rock hard. Look for peaches that are slightly soft and give a little when pressed gently with your fingers..
3. Ease of picking. When ripe, peaches should be easy to pluck from the tree without a lot of resistance. If you need to pull or tug hard, the peaches are not quite ready for harvesting.
4. Scent. Ripe peaches should emit a delightful fruity or floral aroma if you give them a sniff or walk by a peach tree that's heavy with fruit.
5. Taste. The surest way to tell if peaches are ripe or not is to do a taste test. Fully ripened peaches should be sweet, juicy, and packed with flavor.

How to Harvest Peaches

Peaches don’t ripen all at once. Once the harvest season starts, you’ll need to check your trees often and pick peaches as they ripen one by one.

To harvest peaches, simply grasp the globe of the peach fruit in one hand and give it a gentle twist while lifting upwards and supporting the peach branch with your free hand. If the peach is fully ripe, it should detach easily from the tree. If not, leave it for a few more days and try again.

If you’re gathering a lot of peaches at once, place them in a single layer in a harvesting bucket or bag. Avoid stacking peaches in heavy piles. Piling peaches on top of each other causes these delicate fruits to get bruised and spoil faster.

Storing Your Harvest

Fully ripened peaches don’t last long after picking and should be stored in your fridge to keep them from becoming overripe and spoiling. In the fridge, ripe peaches last for three to five days.

The best way to store peaches is on their shoulders, i.e., with the stem side down. This prevents moisture loss from the stem scar and prevents the peach from rolling around, which may cause bruising.

If you harvest more peaches than you can use right away, preserve the peaches by canning or freezing them, either whole, sliced, or in pureed form.

Peaches that have been harvested underripe ripen off the tree. They last longer than peaches that were picked fully ripe, about a week or longer.

For faster ripening, store unripe peaches at room temperature and only pop them in your refrigerator when they've turned fully ripe. Another way to speed up the ripening process is to store peaches in a sealed paper bag in a warm, dry place.