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Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Cooking with Chef Jo: No Pectin, Low Sugar Peach Jam

I only wish mine were this big.
I mentioned last post that I was picking peaches and was going to make jam with them. The recipe I use is pretty standard. I use lemons as a high pectin addition. This way I don't have to run to the store and buy pectin to make my jam thick, nor do I have to deplete my food storage of Clear-Jel. This was the first run of seriously harvesting one tree. We picked a 5-gallon bucket full before heavy rains had us scampering inside.

For the amount of sugar added, I started with 3 cups and add more to taste. With my little tween golf/tennis ball sized peaches, it took 15 peaches to get 7 pounds worth. They were quite tart so I went up to four and a half cups of sugar. They still have a little bit of tartness, but I like my jams that way.

Peach No Pectin, Low Sugar Jam
About 8 half pint jars

What you'll need
7 lb peaches, about 6 large peaches, small diced
3-5 cups sugar
3 lemons, juiced and 1 zested

Putting it all together

  • Peel and dice peaches.
  • Place peaches in a saucepan. 
  • With a potato masher, break up fruit until there are equal amounts of peach juice to peaches.
  • Add 3 cups of sugar, lemon zest and juice.
  • Over medium heat, still until the sugar is dissolved and bring mixture to a boil.
  • Taste your jam. If it needs more sugar, add it now.
  • Bring mixture back to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
  • Boil two minutes.
  • Reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes.
  • Ladle into hot jars.
  • Wipe rims, lid and ring the jars. Water bath can for 15 minutes. Jam will thicken as it cools.
Slather this jam on biscuits with a ham steak dinner. Use it with brown sugar as a glaze for a whole
ham.  It's excellent on English muffins. Or, anytime you want a "little bit of Georgia in every bite." We aren't called the peach state for nothing.

Y'all have a blessed day!
Chef Jo

4 comments:

  1. How wonderful that you have peaches! Ours didn't make it, sadly.

    Interesting, that you don't spend a lot of time simmering your pectin-less jam. All the instructions I read want it cooked to the gel stage, which I have found takes a very long time! The ones I don't cook for so long always end up pretty runny and decidedly not jam like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the addition of the lemon juice and zest that does it. Lemons are one the highest on the pectin chart.

      Delete
  2. Great recipe. I have been making jams also. My first time. I love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulation on your canning gateway...jams and jellies. Have fun with it!

      Delete

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