Save the Scraps: Peach Peel Jelly
Waste not, want not, right? Ok, so composting peach peels or feeding them to your chickens isn’t waste, but what if you could squeak a little bit more out for yourself? What if you could turn all of those peach peels into a beautiful and delicious Peach Peel Jelly first?
I didn’t think that I was wasting the peach peels I removed while canning peaches for our family to enjoy over the winter. After all, recycling the peels into soil for the garden via composting which in turn will feed our family some other year.
But I was missing a step and I didn’t even know it!
All those discarded fragrant peach skins and scraps can be used to make a sweet jelly and it’s very simple to do! This secret works well for making  Spiced Apple Peel Jelly too!
*Note: Peach pits, particularly the seed within the pit contains small amounts of arsenic. There seems to be some discrepancy as to whether or not it is enough in this type of jelly to cause an adverse health effects with some citing scientific amounts and others pointing to the more anecdotal evidence that ladies for generations have been making this jelly without any issues. I certainly wouldn’t recommend throwing damaged pits or seeds in there, but you must decide for yourself if it’s worth the risk to your family and to just leave the pits out.
Peach Peel Jelly
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Peach Peel Jelly
- Yield: 2 Pints 1x
Ingredients
- 3 cups juice prepared from the peach peels & pits* (see below)
- 1 box of powdered pectin or equivalent
- 3 cups sugar
Instructions
- To prepare the juice, place your peels and pits in a stock pot and just barely cover with water. Simmer for 30 minutes and then allow to steep overnight.
- Strain the juice from the pot in the morning and discard (compost) the scraps.
- In a large pot, whisk together the peach juice and pectin and bring to a full, rolling boil.
- Add the sugar all at once.
- Return to a full, rolling boil and boil until it sheets off of the spoon. This took about 3 minutes for mine.
- Ladle into glass jars. Wipe the rims clean and top with lids and rings.
- Process in a water bath for 5 minutes.
Enjoy!
I’ve made this jelly for 2 years now it is is great way to use scraps
I boil my scraps up he night before. Let sit on stove over nite and drain juice the next day
Makes a lovely jelly
GardenGal
I made this today but I added sliced jalapeños from my garden during the simmering part. Also during the boiling with the sugar I added 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. This is a great recipe and my chickens loved all the scraps aftwards still. Thanks!
I made this today!!! It is delicious!! I’ve seen others comment to it bing runny. The first time I tried mine was too. Problem was trying to double recipe. One recipe at a time works wonderfully well.
Made this jelly using the peels & pits and the jelly turned out great!
The taste & color reminds me of crabapple jelly…can’t wait to share this with my family.
Please wash your peaches thoroughly before trying this recipe. Boiling Unwashed peaches can produce some ugly, gooey looking residue. No one should eat or feed their family peach jelly made from the peelings of unwashed fruit. This is a great recipe and I’ve making jelly from peach peelings for 53 years as of late summer of 2020.
Do you let the pot of peelings and juice sit on the counter overnight , or in the refrigerator?
I would like to substitute honey for the sugar, would this be ok
I tried this recipe for the peaches yesterday. This morning everything in the jars is still liquid. Might this be “recooked” using additional pectin?
I dip my peaches in boiling water and the skins just peel off easily, really nothing left to make jelly out of. Perhaps your talking about when you actually peel them with a knife.
She did say to peel the peaches with a knife.