Remember how we love to pick peaches? Well, one of the reasons is to make fresh peach jam to preserve the taste of summer all winter long. There is not much better on a bleak January morning than a cup of steaming cocoa and toast with homemade peach preserves!
Making jam (real jam, not freezer jam) is much easier than I ever expected, when I decided to try it out last year. I did have to buy myself a big stock pot for the jar boil, but other than that the investment is the same as freezer jam, but these jars don’t take up any freezer space, which in my tiny apartment is saved mostly for homemade cookie dough and ice cream:)!
For one batch of jam (one box of pectin) I used about 8-10 medium sized peaches. Peeling and quartering the ripe fruit is a simple feat, then comes the fun part…
…squishing it into a pulp with my bare (and clean) hands! For jam you still want some fruit chunks, so it shouldn’t be pureed, and I find the chopping with a knife to be too tedious, so this method works well for me. Makes me feel like a kid!
After mixing in the necessary HUGE quantity of sugar (see pectin insert for actual recipe), and maintaining the standard full-minute boil, the mixture is ready to ladle into jars. This year I waited a couple minutes before ladling, and I think the fruit chunks are better suspended within the jam, rather than all at the top like they were last year.
A ten-minute boil under water, and my lids all sealed with a “ping!” This is an easy, yummy tradition that I think I’ll keep up for a long long time!
