Ripening Peaches

I love to can peaches and always buy the 18 lb boxes of "canning peaches" at the store.  They come from California (Mrs Smittcamp's), and are always beautiful peaches.  But they come green in the box.   About 5 years ago I went online and asked how to successfully ripen peaches for canning.  A peach grower from CA told me about this method, which works great!  He said to put the peaches stem side down on a linen cloth, and set them about 1/2 inch apart, and then cover them with more linen cloths.  He also said not to laugh, but damask linen works best because it has the right "breath-ability" !  Since I am a collector of linens and vintage tablecloths, of course I had plenty of the right kind of linens!  If a person doesn't have linens, they are easy to find at thrift stores, garage sales, and antique malls.  Even at antique stores I usually find them in stacks of 6 or 8 or 12 for just a couple dollars a stack.
      I put the peaches in my basement (the peach grower suggested a cool and slightly humid area).  After about 3 days, they are perfectly ripe and ready for canning.   This method has not failed me for the past 5 years - that peach grower was right!  I bought 5 boxes of peaches today, and so Mom and I will be busy probably by Friday morning.  If any of you ever decide to can up some peaches, I strongly suggest this method to ripen them.

Five boxes of peaches set 1/2 in apart on linen. 

Peaches covered with damask napkins