The other day at the store, I caved in to buying a childhood favorite candy of mine, Peach Rings. They are quite delicious, but now that I am an adult I can taste things that I didn’t used to like artificial flavorings and sweetener aftertastes. I thought to myself, there has got to be a way to make homemade peach rings. Guess what folks, I found a way.
If you follow us in Instagram, you may have seen the latest tragedy that grandmas peach tree got so much fruit this year that it broke the tree right in half. Well, that meant that we had “Millions of Peaches” to deal with immediately. We dried them, made jam, made smoothies, froze them and finally, I found a way to make homemade peach rings.
I don’t recommend making these homemade peach rings unless you are already canning peaches. I say that because of the labor intensive process. I guess some of you may really enjoy that type of candy making but it is a lot of work.
The steps include, peeling the peaches, blending the peaches, straining the peaches, boiling the puree, cooling, cutting out and rolling in sugar. Those steps in and of themselves can be quite time consuming, but if you are already making some jam or canning peach halves, it would be easy to save some aside and make some delicious homemade peach rings while you are at it.
So if you are up to the challenge, here are all the steps to make homemade peach rings.
How to Make Homemade Peach Rings with Real Fruit
First we will start with the ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 6 peaches or more to yield 2 cups puree
(Mix these in a small dish and place near stove)
- 3 t. sugar
- 1-1/2 T. powdered pectin
Measure these and put near the stove so you can quickly add them to your peach mixture at the correct temperatures.
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Preparation:
After putting the ingredients that you will need by the stove, line a cooling dish with foil and grease it with cooking spray or coconut oil. I used a large pie dish but you could use a 9×9 square too.
Get started:
Peel, Pit and Puree
How to Peel Peaches for Canning or Candy Making
1. Add peaches to boiling water and boil for 30 seconds.
2. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon and insert into an ice bath until cool enough to touch.
3. Peel off skins with fingers or a paring knife. If the peel does not come off easily, try boiling and cooling process again.
Now pit the peaches by cutting in half and removing the pit. Add peach halves to a blender and puree. Then, use a large strainer to collect any remaining chunks.
Add peaches to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add the mixture of pectin and sugar. Stir it in well until the sugar is blended in evenly, then add remaining sugar.
Then, bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is boiling, pour in your pre-measured corn syrup.
Now you need to get this mixture up to 230 degrees to obtain the proper gummy texture. This took about a half hour of stirring. Be cautious to not scald the bottom by occasionally using a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom. Make sure that it has your undivided attention. Once it starts to look thick, I switched to using only my rubber spatula.
As soon as it hits 230 degrees, add the lemon juice and stir in well. Pour into your prepared cooling dish and let it cool at room temperature for 4 hours.
The fun part begins. Cut out the shapes that you want. I used a bottle lid (without the nipple) to cut out the peach rings. Then roll them in sugar. I waited to roll them in sugar until the end so that I could keep my hands clean.
If you don’t plan on eating the whole batch at once, you may want to keep these in an airtight tupperware in the fridge to keep the sugar from dissolving into the gummy from moisture in the air.
They taste a lot like homemade peach jam. Natural, sweet and delicious.
What do you think? Aren’t they lovely out in the natural sunlight? Do you think I am nuts to spend so much time making them? I do, but it was worth it.
this is crazy – but in all the right ways! sure, a bag of it in a store costs less than a few bucks, but this just seems waaaaay healthier. plus, it’s a fun experience i bet.
Hi! These looks awesome. Could I possibly swap fresh peaches with canned peaches in this recipe?
Hi, thanks Margaret. I have yet to try it~ It would make it so much easier to do if it works! If you try it, come on back and tell us how it goes!
The peach rings turned out to be more like jelly! Didn’t come out right
Shoot! I wonder what happened differently from my kitchen to yours. Perhaps a temperature difference?
Not to sure what happened. But deft going to try again!!
@Shannon Candy is finicky, so there are a couple of things that could have gone wrong. The most likely scenarios are that it was a humid day (candy doesn’t like to set in high humidity) or that it wasn’t cooked to the right temperature.
Do you have a candy/ high heat thermometer? If so, it may need to be calibrated; even just a few degrees difference can cause candy not to set up properly. If you don’t I highly recommend getting one.
I avoided getting one like the plague for years, but ever since I got one for my birthday this past year, I don’t do any candy making without it. It’s made a world of difference. I’m not going to brand drop or anything, I just got a cheaper one.
(They come in a range of prices, so if you prefer, you can always ask for a pricier one. My point, though, is they make great birthday or holiday gifts (**nudge, nudge, wink, wink** to your hubs.)
I am fortunate enough to live with a hubby who HATES humidity (and candy, coincidentally, so I get it all to myself). It makes this process a whole lot easier for me. I would just look up the weather report the next day you feel like making these beauties and check the relative humidity. Ideally, it should be about 35%. If not, you can run an air conditioner or dehumidifier. If you don’t want to run appliances, you may have luck cooking it longer. I can’t vouch for the longer cooking time, since i don’t do that. I just know a few other people who have had luck with it. Personally, I plan candy making out in advance. I absolutely try not to make it on humid days.
Sorry about the novel! Good luck on your next try!
@themamasgirls This looks wonderful! I’m definitely going to try this.
thanks for the response. mine were liquid as well so going to run through the dehydrator
Any replacement/substitute ideas to replace the corn syrup?
would brown rice syrup work?
I have never experimented. If that works let me know! That would be amazing.
How long does the candy last?
In an airtight container, it stays fresh and soft for a week, then it starts to get more chewy like the store bought ones. Good question.
What stove temp should I cook these on? I’m stirring at a medium high right now at a constant boil.is that right?
Pingback: Summer Picnic Picks: Desserts
Hi, picture shows the dry peach mixture is brown color but the peach rings with sugar are red (see the 2 last pictures). Did you put any red colour in?
At the time I was living in a dark apartment. The lighting was terrible in my kitchen and so they looked brown. When I took it to my porch and took the featured image, the sun showed the true color. Great observation. Thanks for commenting!