Grandma Merrell Would Be Proud

September 24, 2014

#13 - Make Jam

Thanks to my Grandma Merrell, I have always had a love for peach or apricot jam.  She would make jam and share the bounty with her family.  My brother Ryan would get a bottle of jam each year for his birthday and I figured since the bottle was in the fridge it was fair game, right?  Well I am pretty sure Grandma would be proud of my list item #13 - Make Jam because peach was the jam of choice.

This was my first foray into the land of jam making and I have to say that it was great!  I realize that making freezer jam isn't quite as impressive as bottling but let's just focus on the fact I made jam.

Peaches came from the Tagge's fruit stand closest to my house.  Jam making was on a time crunch because peaches wouldn't be sticking around for much longer.  I bought two smallish baskets of peaches and hoped that would be enough.  The whole way home from the store I reminded myself to take a picture of the peaches before getting started.  Guess what I forgot to do....take a before picture of the peaches.  Now you will have nothing to compare the after shot to.  I apologize.

According to the Internet geniuses, dunking the peaches in boiling water and then into an ice bath is the fastest way to take the peels off.  Other than a few stubborn peaches this technique worked like a charm.

Now that the peaches had been peeled, it was off to the blender to be chopped.

Chopped peaches were measured into a bowl where sugar and lemon juice were added to the fruit.  Mix together well and let sit for 10 minutes.

Add pectin.  Three minutes of stirring to make sure your arm falls off everything gets mixed well and your jam is almost done.

Laddle/Spoon your jam into the sterilized containers and let stand for 30 minutes.

Voila!  Peach freezer jam is ready to be enjoyed by one and all.  I ended up with more jam than I had freezer space available.  A few lucky individuals benefitted from this lack of freezer space by taking a container off my hand.  My parents in particular because they get to consume some of the jam as payment for storage.

Making jam was actually pretty fun!  I would love to make some raspberry but we will see how ambitious I am or if I can find enough fruit.

-Em