by POPSUGAR Food 13

Believe it or not, today is Eat a Peach Day — if you don't believe me, maybe the fact that you can send ecards celebrating it might persuade you. In honor of the day, I say you go out and have yourself a lovely unadulterated peach. First, you'll have to pick yourself a good one, here are a few tips on how to do that:

• Peaches are very delicate, so pick them up gently to avoid bruising.
• Select peaches that are slightly soft to firm when pressed, avoid ones with soft spots.
• Be sure to smell for fragrant peaches. The more fragrant the smell, the sweeter it should be.
• Look for evenly shaped peaches and avoid ones with blemishes.
• Stay away from ones with green tints as they will not ripen fully.
• Although they continue to ripen after picked, the sugar production ceases. So even though they will soften, if they are not sweet when hard, they won't become sweeter when soft.
• You can soften peaches faster by placing them in a loosely sealed brown paper bag.
• Yellow peaches are the most common, but white is also widely available and has a slightly more delicate flavor.

Do you have any great peach picking tips? Let us know in the comments below!

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