My peach ree has been doing really well in my greenhouse and has some good sized fruit on it. I have been tying up the branches because they are getting so heavy, but unfortunately last night one must have snapped under the weight it was carrying. I have 12 unripe peaches on this branch ( approx half of the expected harvest) - nearly fully sized and starting to pink up but predominantly green. Shall I just bung the lot on the compost or is there anything I can do to get them to ripen up or make them more usable - even for cooking?

you could make wine
or try ripening them in a bowl of banannas

Have read about bananas ripening things - might try that first - hadn't thought about wine - thanks for that

A late question...Was the branch snapped off completely? because if there was a tiny bit connected it could have maybe been lashed up together just to allow the peaches to ripen?
You probably realise this and the branch was snapped completely anyway!

I am fairly uncertain, but do remember reading that unripe peaches contain more cyanide and it's derivatives. I have no idea how much more or whether this makes them inedible.

What is it in bananas that ripens other fruits?

I thought it was methane that they produce ( getting on now though, memory a bit creative!)

Just googled "unripe peaches" and a site said that whilst they're best ripened on the tree, they will continue to ripen after if you store them on the work surface in closed brown paper bags. Got to be worth a try.

No mention of cyanide at all you'll be pleased to learn.

It's ethylene they release that helps ripening. Same reason you shouldn't put bananas near to cut flowers - the ethylene from the bananas makes the flowers go over more quickly

I would've thought they'd ripen anyway. All these fruit producers pick their fruit unripe and it gradually ripens as it travels the length & bredth of the earth to get to asda / tesco etc. Haven't you noticed that shop fruit is always hard and inedible for a few days (until it suddenly gets ripe & goes off really quickly!)