Experiments in Home Preserves- Organic Peach and Nectarine Jam

Organic Peach and Nectarine Jam

This jam combines the sweetness of ripe summer peaches with the warm fall spices of vanilla and nutmeg. Perfect on a scone for a lazy morning breakfast. Naturally occurring pectin in the fruit peels causes the mixture to gel, and the jam turns a light rose color while cooking and processing.

Ingredients

4 cups chopped organic nectarines and peaches, with peels still on

2 cups sugar

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

1 Cook chopped fruit, sugar, and lemon juice at a mild boil until liquid begins to gel and sheet off of spoon (around 20 minutes, up to 30 minutes, depending on cooking temp and fruit)

2 Add spices, cook for 5 minutes more.

3 Skim any foam off surface.

4 Ladle into sterilized jars.

5 Process in boiling water bath for 10-mins.

After reading up a bit on hot water bath canning during the winter, I decided to give it a shot now that all of produce is ripe and the prices are good. Here in Northern California berries, peaches, nectarines and cucumbers are all in season (along with about a thousand other things), so those are the ingredients I used. Canning turned out to be much less tricky than I had feared. Fruits, veggies, pickles, sauces, and salsas are an attainable goal for anyone with some produce, a few supplies, and a free afternoon. Those horror stories of bacterial poisonings and such are from back in the day, when people used home recipes to can dairy products, breads, thick stews and meats in pots of hot water. The USDA and various agricultural groups have perfected the sterilization procedures and recipes over the past several decades, and everything is fairly simple and extremely safe if you just follow a recipe. I bought a copy of Better Home and Gardens "You CAN CAN!"... mostly because I liked the title, and have done further searching online for recipes to try. Because there is chemistry involved- things have to gel, or set, or pickle, as well as be sterile and vacuum seal, I have only slightly altered spices/flavorings, never cooking times or ratios of ingredients. I first made two batches of garlic-dill pickles- one spicy, and one mild. I followed those up with a batch of organic raspberry jam. Having only purchased one pouch of pectin, not realizing that it would only make one batch of jam, out of sheer laziness I started searching for fruits that I already had, with naturally occurring pectin so that I wouldn't have to drive to the store. I had some organic peaches and nectarines on hand, and found that leaving the peels on provides plenty of pectin to create a firm jam, and the added spices taste delicious- this is a very easy, sweet, and flavorful jam that will be warm and delightful over Chris's Swedish Pancakes. I do think organic fruit is worth the investment if you are making large batches of jam. Peaches, nectarines, berries, and grapes are all thin skinned and treated with lots of pesticides. We are lucky to live in an area where organic options are both cheap and readily available, at Costco as well as the grocery store.