Homemade Peach Rings Made From Real Fruit

Homemade Peach Rings with Real Fruit

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.
Homemade Peach Rings with real fruit

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.
IMG_8080_2
2. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon and insert into an ice bath until cool enough to touch.
IMG_8081_2
3. Peel off skins with fingers or a paring knife. If the peel does not come off easily, try boiling and cooling process again.
IMG_8082_2
IMG_8083_2

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.

IMG_8087
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.
IMG_8091
Then, bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is boiling, pour in your pre-measured corn syrup.
IMG_8093
IMG_8096

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.

IMG_8099
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.
IMG_8104_2

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.
IMG_8107

homemadepeachrings
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.

16 thoughts on “Homemade Peach Rings Made From Real Fruit”

  1. 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.

    1. 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!

        1. @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.

    1. 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.

  2. Pingback: Summer Picnic Picks: Desserts

  3. 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?

    1. 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!

Leave a Reply to Chloe Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top