
Here’s how to make homemade syrup using peach pits or cherry pits. The jewel-toned syrup is tinged with the flavor of ripe fruit and almonds.
- Flavor iced tea or coffee.
- Drizzle peach syrup over pancakes and fruit salad.
- Add cherry syrup to your brownies.
- Spoon either over vanilla or plain cashew nicecream.
A Something-for-Nothing Recipe: Super Thrifty!
Homemade stone-fruit syrup puts the pits to use after you make cobbler or pie, making this a something-for-nothing recipe. Even pits from cling-free peaches work. It costs only 5 cents for a two-tablespoon serving, using organic sugar. You might use less in your tea and more over pancakes, so also know that it costs just 77 cents for two cups of syrup. I count the pits as free because I threw away mountains of them before I learned how to make this recipe.
This Syrup is Safe
Stone-fruit pits do have traces of cyanide, but boiling the pits renders the poison harmless. Even raw, they are safe in any quantity you would be likely to eat, even on an island with nothing but peach and cherry trees. So boil up the pits and enjoy!

Prep Time | 2 minutes |
Cook Time | 10 minutes |
Passive Time | 8 hours |
Servings |
servings
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- 1 cup pits from cherries or peaches unrinsed
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 cup water
Ingredients
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- Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let mixture cool to room temperature.
- Spoon pits into a jar and pour in syrup. Cover jar and refrigerate for at least eight hours.
- To serve, spoon syrup off the top. When the syrup becomes more pits than syrup, pour it through a strainer to get the last drops. Refrigerate for up to three weeks or freeze for up to a year.
- Adjust the amount of sugar and water to match the amount of pits you have. Just use twice as much sugar and water by volume as you have pits.
- For stronger syrup, use just enough water to cover the pits and an equal amount of sugar.
- I like to let the flavors deepen for about a week, then strain the rest into an ice cube tray and freeze. Pop out the flavor cubes after they freeze solid and store in a jar or freezer-safe container.
- See other Something for Nothing recipes here.
Nutritional Information for Homemade Cherry or Peach Syrup
The finished syrup may have traces of vitamin C and other nutrients and slightly more calories. The nutritional analysis is only for the sugar. Believe it or not, the USDA has not published the nutritional information for boiled fruit pits.
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