r/AskCulinary • u/fouhay • 22h ago

Ripening peaches (and other stonefruit) Equipment Question

Hi, we live in a regional area, and some items we only buy once a month if we are visiting a nearby city. As such we buy some fruit hard so it will last longer.

Never usually a problem, however this summer we've had temps regularly in the mid-high 30's, so fruit goes soft on the outside 3-4 mm and remains rock hard in the middle.

Are there any appliances that can keep food at around 25-ish whilst it ripens?

We considered a wine fridge but they seem to max out at around 20 degrees.

TIA

5 Upvotes

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u/kyobu 21h ago

Peaches shouldn’t be refrigerated when they’re unripe. That makes them mealy.

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u/fouhay 21h ago

Understood, but not looking for a fridge.

Looking for an appliance that can store them at halfway between 4° (fridge) and 38° (current room temperature in our part of the world)

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u/acegikmo21767 21h ago

Can you try an insulated box maybe?

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u/fouhay 20h ago

I could give that a go - do you mean like a polystyrene box and lid?

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u/acegikmo21767 20h ago

Yeah, exactly. And you could put a little ice in there every couple of days to maintain room temp if the cooler itself isn’t cutting it.

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u/Positive_Guidance_75 8h ago

Here's a way that always works. Put them in a paper bag and roll up the top like a lunchbag - not refrigerated, but in a cool space. Takes like 2+3 days, more or less depending on how ripe to start with. Check on them until they get ripe as you like. Put one that's a little riper in the bag with the others than the rest to speed things along. They come out PERFECTLY ! Most fruits & some veggies naturally give off gases as they ripen - the rolled up bag concentrates the air given off and ripens the fruit quickly. BUT THIS IS DONE IN A PAPER BAG! ONLY! Plastic sweats & everything turns mushy.

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u/Positive_Guidance_75 7h ago

..... You can tell how ripe they are by how good they begin to smell! Give him a little squeeze too. (Give THEM a little squeeze, not him! ) (Or, go ahead and give him a little squeeze too!) Fabulous peaches!

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u/SewerRanger Holiday Helper 8h ago

I don't know of anything you can buy, but it's an easy DIY hack. Buy a thermostat probe plug (like this one) and a mini fridge. The fridge connects to the thermostat plug, then you set the temp you want, put the probe into the fridge, and plug the thermostat into your wall power. I built a sausage curing chamber out of an old fridge using the same setup. Works great.