Softening Rock-Hard Peaches

F&W's ever-curious test kitchen assistant, Brian Malik, discovered a new way to make the best of supermarket peaches. He writes:

When I discovered peaches on sale at my grocery store for 88 cents a pound, I bought nearly three pounds. Unfortunately, they were hard as rocks and tasted like, well, rocks. I scoured the Web for advice on how to ripen the fruit quickly. Some sites said to put the fruit in a paper bag to trap the ethylene gases, which would speed ripening; other sites warned that moisture would collect inside the bag and rot the fruit. I improvised. I laid the peaches on a kitchen towel and covered them with another towel. I figured the towels would contain enough of the fruit’s gases to ripen them, while still allowing any moisture to evaporate. After two days, when the unmistakable scent of peaches permeated my apartment, I felt it was safe to check on them. They were perfectly soft without being mushy and wonderfully peachy tasting—not a rotten spot in sight.