Preserving Food- Peach Jam
- Audrey L Elder
- Aug 6
- 2 min read
Preserving Food- Peach Jam
It’s Peach season! Here in Missouri, it’s the best we’ve seen in a few years. There are a few ways to preserve peaches, here are the instructions for making delicious peach jam.
1. Don’t use white peaches for preserving. Seconds or #2’s are a great way to save a bit on a large amount of peaches just try to get them fresh. If you are using your own grown peaches you can put any that aren’t fully ripe in a sunny window for a few days to ripen.
2. Wash the peaches and cut into smaller chunks removing the pits and any bad spots. (I don’t compost the pits because they don’t break down well).
3. Place peach pieces in a food processor. If you don’t have one, cut into smaller pieces and use a potato masher. You’ll need four cups of chopped peaches for one batch of jam.*
4. Combine in a stainless steel pot: chopped peaches, two Tbsp lemon juice, one box of pectin (or 1/3 cup if you are using bottled pectin) and a little bit of butter if you want to cut down on foaming.
5. Bring mixture to a full boil and add 5 ½ cup sugar for regular pectin, 3 cups of sugar for Sure-Jell Low-Sugar Pectin- Boil for one minute.
6. Fill sterilized jars (I use half or quarter-pint jelly jars), wipe rim of jars, secure lids and place bands on- but not tightly!
7. Boiling water bath process for 10 minutes. If using an electric canner fill the canner to the marked level, if using a stovetop pot or canner cover jars with 1”-2” of water. Do not lock down a canner lid when water bath processing, or it could pressurize. Never open a pressurized canner.
8. Once processing is done remove the lid (again, never if pressurized) and allow jars to cool. Remove them from the canner/pot after five minutes (I use canning tongs) and wait for them to completely cool before tightening lids and storing. Wait at least 24 hours before opening. If any lids don’t seal they will have a bump in the center and you will be able to press the middle of the lid down. You can attempt to re-process them with new lids or put them in the refrigerator.
Peach jam is a favorite for our family and makes a wonderful gift!
*Canning instructions are based on USDA and Sure-Jell recommendations
Happy Preserving!
Audrey L Elder
Fourteen Acre Wood
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