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Peach Pit Jelly

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Peach Pit Jelly should probably be called Peach Peel and Pit Jelly, but Peach Pit Jelly is …well…pithier. Plus, for those of you who abhor food waste (and I am with you on that!) this delicious, beautiful jelly uses just about all of the lovely peach, toe to tip! Or peel to pit, rather. 

Peach Pit Jelly

Peach Pit Jelly: I kid you not.

 

Yup.  Peach PIT Jelly. 

You read that right.
Normally, if I’m going to post a recipe, I like to do a lot of research on it, and know as many answers as I can to the technical questions that might pop up. I’ll be the first to tell you that I had very little idea what I was doing when I made this, but it turned out great just the same. That, in and of itself, should give some of you comfort. 

But What If I’ve Never Made Jelly Before? 

I, myself, had never made jam or jelly before I made Peach Pit Jelly. I have never canned anything.

And yet: yesterday, I made jelly! Out of peach pits and peels, and a little juice.

It’s true. 

Here’s how that came to be.

What Should I Do with a (Fuzzy) Butt Load of Peaches?

We bought 25 pounds of beautiful peaches and took a couple of days to blanch, peel, pit, slice, and freeze them in gallon ziplock baggies of 3 pounds of sliced peaches each. (They had been sprinkled with some sugar and some lemon juice.) That’s about the amount I thought I would need to make a good peach pie. (I’m guessing some of you might want a link to HOW to make that fabulous fresh peach pie. So here’s a link to How to Make Peach Pie.)

Save The Peels and Pits!!!

One of my online acquaintances mentioned to me that her grandmother made peach pit jelly. Now this intrigued me, as I know that peach pits contain small amounts of cyanide, so I wondered if that could be even safe. So, I googled. And there were several recipes out there for peach pit jelly, and one mentioned the cyanide situation, but fiddle-dee-deed it as being trace amounts, and since so many people had been eating this jelly for years, and the cyanide was only in the kernel that is inside the pits (which I myself have eaten before with no ill effects), I decided not to worry about it, and to actually give making some peach pit jelly a try.

How (and Why) to Blanch a Peach:

If you don’t want peels on the peaches in your pies, doing something called blanching your peaches will help you easily slip the skins off of the peaches. 

Cut an X on the peaches

Blanching the peaches so that they peel easily:
X marks the spot

Polar Peach Plunge

Chill out, baby. The Ice Bath, aka, the Polar Peach Plunge.

To blanch a peach, you cut an X in the bottom of it, and let it swim in a hot tub of boiling water for one minute. You immediately plunge it into an ice bath, and then the peel slides off.

peachy jars of goodness

Peachy jars of goodness.

So when we blanched and peeled all those peaches, I sliced up the peaches to use for pies, and stored them in gallon sized bags in the freezer. But I saved their rosy skins and pits, and stored them in the fridge in another gallon sized ziplock bag.

First I Made a Pie, and Saved the Juice

A day or so later, I made a peach pie out of one of those frozen, then thawed, gallon-sized baggies of peaches. But there was too much juice in the peaches: it would have made the pie soggy to have added all that juice. So I poured some juice off the peaches into a cup and stuck it in the fridge. It was about a half a cup of glorious peach juice, that I thought I could pour in my pit and peel juice.

Make the Jelly the Next Day

The day I made the jelly, I poured some water over the peelings and pits in a big pot. I brought it to a boil. I boiled it for 10 minutes. And I let it steep in that water for about 8 hours. Then I drained it over some cheesecloth, and by the time I added my reserved peach juice, I had about 4 cups of liquid. 

I brought it to a boil, added a box plus a tablespoon of low sugar recipe pectin. I added sugar, and about a 1/4 c. of lemon juice, for some acidity, and I brought the mixture up to 220 degrees. (Be sure you use a BIG pot because that stuff likes to bubble up high!) Then I skimmed off the foam, poured it in jelly jars I had sterilized in my dishwasher, leaving about a half of an inch at the top of each jar, so that if I freeze it, it has a little room to expand. I let it cool off a bit on the counter, stuck it in my fridge overnight, and voila! Jelly in the morning, to go with hot biscuits.

2biscuits with peach

Hot biscuits with melting butter and sweet peachy nectar of the gods.

So the rule that worked for me was about a cup of sugar for every cup of peach pit and peel juice. And I knew one box of SureJell pectin would work for 3 c. of liquid, so since I had 4 c. I added an extra tablespoon full from another box, for good measure. 

If you liked this post, you might also love my super easy recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Butter.

Peach Pit Jelly

Please pin this on Pinterest: isn’t it beautiful? 

If you love the idea of peach pit jelly, but have no surplus of peaches at present, why not pin this post on Pinterest?That way you’ll know where to find it when you’re ready to try making it.

 

Yield: 8 4 oz. jars

Peach Pit Jelly

peachy jars of goodness

Fight food waste, deliciously!!! A beautiful rose colored jelly made from peach peels and peach pits.

Prep Time 8 hours
Cook Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 2 hours
Total Time 10 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • Peach pits and peels from approximately 25 pounds of peaches
  • 4 c. water
  • 1 box +1 T. Sure Jell low sugar recipe pectin (the pink box)
  • 4 cups of sugar
  • 1/4 c. lemon juice
  • Optional: any peach juice you don't use in making a pie (I had about 1/2 c.)

Instructions

  1. Blanch, peel, and slice peaches, reserving peach pits and peels in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator.
  2. If you use 3 lbs of peaches to make a pie, pour off any excess juice and reserve in fridge.
  3. Sterilize jelly jars and lids in dishwasher.
  4. Cover peels and pits with 4 c. water, and bring to a boil.
  5. Let them steep, covered, for approximately 8 hours, or overnight.
  6. Drain liquid through cheesecloth, and add peach juice to strained liquid. You will have approximately 4 c.
  7. Pour into a LARGE pot. (When it's boiling with the sugar in it, it will climb high up the pan.)
  8. Bring peach liquid to boil and stir in 1 package plus 1 tablespoonful of pectin.
  9. Whisk for approximately 3 minutes, to dissolve any lumps of pectin.
  10. Add 4 c. sugar, and 1/4 c. lemon juice.
  11. Boil jelly till it comes to a temperature of 220º.
  12. Pour into sterilized jelly jars, and seal.
  13. Allow to cool for a bit on the counter.
  14. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

  • SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
  • thermometer for testing temperature of boiling jelly
  • 8 sterilized jelly jars and lids: I sterilized mine in my dishwasher
  • large pot
  • a canning funnel, for pouring hot jelly into clean jars
  • Life is Just a Bowl of Peaches

    Life has been described as "just a bowl of cherries", but if it were a bowl of peaches, here are some ideas for things you could do with them.

     

    Kimberly

    Friday 7th of July 2023

    I actually threw away all the peelings. Will I still have good results with only the pits?

    Susan Williams

    Friday 21st of July 2023

    I sincerely doubt it will have as peachy a flavor, or a similar color, although I have never tried to make it that way before.

    Jennifer S

    Saturday 18th of June 2022

    Does it need to be refrigerated after sealing?

    Susan Williams

    Monday 20th of June 2022

    Yes, or frozen.

    Deb

    Friday 16th of July 2021

    I made this, it tastes amazing, however, it never did set up. Will use it in yogurt, or as pancake syrup.

    Nicky

    Sunday 3rd of June 2018

    I haven't heard of this, but love that you can use something that would normally be thrown away.

    Rosemary Mark

    Wednesday 3rd of August 2016

    So how peachy does the jelly taste? very clever idea and love your description of making it! My recent post Travel Snack Bars (Gluten-free)

    Susan Williams

    Friday 5th of August 2016

    It is peachy, Rosemary, but the flavor is more of a pastel peach flavor. It's very delicate, and entirely tasty! We loved it, and so did our friends who tried it!

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