Everything Is Just Peachy! An Easy Peach Jam Recipe!
This was the time of year that my mom used to have mason canning jars and lids, along with bushel baskets of various fruits and vegetable scattered around on our kitchen table and counters while we seemingly canned everything in sight–that’s my memory anyway!
Today, most of our gardens aren’t as abundant as those of past generations, but my husband and I, along with our oldest daughter, Malia, still like to try our hand at canning a few things. Fresh canned peaches are our favorite, especially when you eat them with “Mush Cake” ! You can find that recipe here.
This most certainly is not my mother’s canning, but it’s still fun to get together and do a couple dozen bottles or so. As is often the case with most great things in life, just being with each other is the best part–that, and snitching a few bites of the fresh peaches.
My daughter and husband will tell you that although it might be much more convenient to buy canned peaches, there is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from putting up some of your own–and they taste so good!
Easy Peach Jam Recipe
After bottling peaches, there’s often extra peaches left over, or some that were a little bruised or too ripe to bottle–these are perfect for making jam. This peach jam recipe came about when late one night, my mom improvised after she’d run out of pectin, which is typically what’s used to thicken the consistency of the fruit for jam–and instead used a package of Jello! This is the only recipe I use now.
This jam recipe is one of the few I’ve come across where you add less sugar than fruit.
Ordinarily, my mom just used peach flavored Jello, but I’ve made this recipe with strawberry and other fruit flavors too. The Jello makes the jam such a beautiful, vibrant color.
You can blend or puree peaches for jam that has a smoother texture. I like my jam with a few bigger chunks of fruit. Stir jam good every few minutes while it simmers for 20-25 min. then add the Jello, making sure it dissolves completely.
You can put jam in small pint jars that you seal with canning lids, or put it in small, decorative jars for immediate use–this would make a great gift from the garden!
The Jello gives this jam a little more runny consistency that I really like. Nothing like some fresh peach jam with your toast or muffins in the morning–especially when you made it!
Canning is sort of becoming a lost art with our busy schedules–I certainly don’t do even half of what my mom and grandma used to do. Any canning you still do? Do you have a great jam recipe?
–Mary