This past weekend, we went peach picking with the full intention of making jam (and other holiday food gifts). I started out with this Vanilla Peach Jam recipe. I swear I have the “You must cook your jam twice” curse. Because yet again, I followed a 5 star internet recipe to the T and my jam did not gel on the first try. I then went and read ALL of the reviews (not just the first 5) and found that I needed to add more pectin – 2 more packets to be exact. That is a BIG difference in the consistency. If you make this recipe as it is written, you will have a very nice thick syrup for ice cream – also not a bad holiday gift! I got 8 1/2 pint jelly jars out of this, but will probably lose another tonight when I have to AGAIN recook the jam that still hasn’t quite fully jelled. I actually at this stage have only used 2 1/2 packets of pectin. 2 of the jars jelled quite nicely – obviously those were the last to be filled and contained the most pectin. The other 6 are much thicker, but still not at a jam stage with which I am happy.
Cooking the Jam - Sterilizing the Jars (the first time!)
I then moved onto this recipe for Honey-Spiced Peaches. I would think that Ball would know to tell people in a recipe that you need firm peaches. Now, maybe a seasoned cook/baker/canner like me should know that, but apparently not. Not to mention, my peaches are getting insanely ripe, insanely fast! Anyway, I peeled, pitted, and sliced the peaches and made the honey sugar syrup. These smell heavenly and the mix of white and yellow peaches in the jars makes them look even more tasty! I opted to use pint jars instead of quarts. I got 6 pint jars and 1 1/2 pint jar out of this recipe. My husband already asked if the 1/2 pint jar could be the tester jar. I think it is going to have to be because I, too, want to try these before I gift them!
Honey Spiced Peaches
As I was reading the group of blogs I frequent this morning, I was even further convinced that someone up above wanted to stick it to me because I found these jumping out at me on the first 2 blogs I checked!
How to Peel a Peach - where was this last night when I had peach peel squishing all over my hands! Actually, I knew how to do this already, but was afraid the already very ripe peaches would not stand up to the boiling process very well.
Peach Pitting Tool - this just about killed me this morning. I SO wish I had had this tool last night. Oh and did I mention that I have an apple corer and a mango corer that look just like this sitting in my kitchen tool drawer? Why didn’t I think of busting out that mango corer?! It probably would have saved me hours! Live & Learn!
