Jam Time

"Remember when you were a kid and your mom used to drop you off at the movies with a jar of jam and a spoon?"  Some tv shows and quotes never get old no matter how much you watch them or quote them.  I'm not even sure why this quote from one of the earlier seasons of friends stuck, but it did.  We had a Friends question during our PMO team building trivia game and I was shocked that I was the only one who knew the answer.  We have a whole new generation of peeps in the workforce who are too young to have watched Friends the first time through.  That saddens me. 

So the post wasn't really supposed to me about Friends but about jam.  Fresh fruit, channeling your inner Laura Ingalls, stock up some sunshine for the winter jam.  I know many have a fear of canning but really it's just about being precise.  If you follow the directions of the recipe and the canning process it's really quite simple and it's a perfect way to take advantage of fresh, available summer fruits.  It's so each that I made a strawberry jam and a peach vanilla butter on the morning.

The ingredient list is pretty simple, 3-4 lbs of fresh fruit, pectin, lemon juice(for some jams) white grape or apple juice and sugar.  I like to make the low sugar jams...regular jam can have as much as 7 cups of sugar to 5 cups of fruit...crazy.  With this low sugar pectin, you can make the jam with just 1/2-1 cup of sugar in the entire batch.  The lesser about of sugar means the jam won't be as vibrantly colorful as the sugared kind but that's a small price to pay for a fresher fruit tasting jam.

I used to buy the pectin in boxes but couldn't find it in any store this year...only this new larger jar size. The recipes are included with the pectin.

Part of following the process is ensuring everything is sterilized.  I've heard many say that the dishwasher sterilizes the jars just the same, but I always process the jars in the water bath first per the directions (actually, everything goes into the boiling water bath for a bit...lids, ladle, tongs and funnel).

You can buy an inexpensive canning kit that includes jar tongs and this handy dandy magnet tool to retrieve the lids from the water bath.  It's genius really.

The strawberry jam is straightforward and straight from the pectin box.  For the peach butter...

Peach Vanilla Butter

4 lbs peaches peeled and diced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup white grape juice

1 box pectin

3/4 cup sugar (adjust amount to your preference)

1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine peaches, lemon juice and white grape juice in large stockpot.  Stir in pectin and mix thoroughly
2. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until peaches are soft. 
3. Add sugar and cook 5 mins more and add vanilla
4. Puree with stick blender
5. Ladle into sterilized 1/2 pint jars and top with sterilized lids
6. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes
7. Remove from water bath and allow to cool fully.   Test each lid for a seal by pressing down in the center of the lid.  The lid should not pop up and down.  If you hear a pop, place the jam into the refrigerator and use first.  Allow the rest of the jars to rest undisturbed overnight.