Peach Syrup... ?

I have been traveling and doing exciting things for the past few days (see next post!), but on Tuesday, before I left New Jersey, I attempted to make the leftover peach peelings (from Peach Cobbler)...

... into peach syrup.

I had no recipe, just a vague idea that it should be like making chicken stock: boil the stuff in water for a long time, then strain out the pieces and cook down, maybe with some sugar added.  Good concept, but in practice, not so easy.

First, I covered the peelings with water and boiled them until I got bored, about an hour and a half.

Looks ugly, smells really good!

Then, I strained the mixture into a bowl in the sink, using a small strainer.  This worked pretty well to get most of the liquid out, but the mixture I was left with was still very wet.  I didn't want to waste any of the liquid, so I got out what I thought was cheese cloth (would also have worked), but turns out it was just a very thin kitchen towel.  Put the hot peelings (very hot!  just-came-out-of-boiling-water hot!) in the middle, and squeezed the rest of the juice out.

Big purple dish-washing gloves: very handy (ahaha!) when working with very hot materials.

I was left with some vaguely peach-flavored water.

This went back in the pot, onto the stove, to cook down.  I added about 2/3 cups of white sugar, to help it get syrupy.  I could have added more, but it was already quite sweet from the peaches themselves, and I didn't want to overdo it.

Long story short, it did cook down significantly-- I was left with about half the volume of liquid I started with.  However, it didn't every get really syrupy in texture.  I ended up with some runny but very tasty peach water.

Nice jar I found in the cabinet.  Thanks Mom!

I had some on vanilla ice cream-- tasty, but runny.  Might be good as a mix-in in tea?  I didn't have time to try it, as I had to leave for the airport and leave my watery-peach-stuff behind.  Hope Mom and Dad enjoy it.