Harvest Peach Freezer Jam
I love this time of year with all of the colors and the many tasty fruits and vegetables that are ready for harvest. Not only do I love eating all the fresh produce, but I love to find ways to preserve the fruits and vegetables for consumption during the winter months.
Canning, dehydrating, freeze drying, etc. all of these are wonderful ways to preserve foods from harvest for use later on in the year. One of my most favorite ways to preserve fresh fruits is to make freezer jam. It doesn’t require any special equipment, like a pressure cooker for canning, and only needs 3 to 4 ingredients to make. I have even made a quick batch of strawberry freezer jam if I didn’t get to a pack of strawberries soon enough and they are about to go bad.
Any type of jam/jelly making needs a thickening agent called pectin. While there are natural pectins available in some fruits high in carbohydrates, such as apples and citrus peels, I have found the most success in using the Ball brand of instant pectin when making freezer jam. I have NEVER had success with the Sure Gel pectin brand.
Harvest Peach Freezer Jam
Equipment
- blender
- deep pot
- jars that can freeze
Ingredients
- 2⅔ cups peaches
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp powdered pectin
Instructions
- Prepare the peaches before placing them in a blender to purée. Remove the center pit and take the skin off (you may want to Google blanching a peach), cut the peach flesh into chunks and place in a blender. Blend on high until the consistency is smooth.
- Once the puréed, pour the peach liquid in a large pot add in the the pectin and place the pot on the stove and whisk until the pectin has disolved into the puree. Turn on the stove to medium heat and whisk continually until the puree begins to bubble.
- When the puree becomes a rolling boil add in the sugar, continuing to whisk the entire time. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and whisk while boiling for 2-3 minutes. Take off of the heat and let stand for up to 2 hours to let cool, whisking occasionally.
- Pour into freezer jars and place in freezer for up to a year.
Notes
Nutrition
There is typically directions on the pectin container as to how to make freezer jam. If the method is to not boil the purée and add pectin to boiling water, that method has never worked for me. The pectin/water combination has never set up correctly and only caused the purée to become watery.
I have found the most success when boiling the purée with the pectin already added in. Also, if you make the jam and it doesn’t seem like the pectin is thickening up the purée into a jam consistency you can always repeat the process of the boiling and adding in more pectin until it is a thicker consistency. I have made freezer jam before and placed it in the freezer, only to realize it didn’t set up well. So i thawed the jam and repeated the boiling and adding pectin steps, then refrozen the jam.
Have you ever made freezer jam before? What are some of your tips and tricks for the perfect freezer jam? Hope y’all are having an amazing week. Stay safe, be kind, and hug your loved ones.
