Peach Jam

I bought a huge bucket of peaches over the weekend. After my husband questioned how I was possibly going to eat all of the peaches before they went bad, I came up with the idea of making some jam. Now, I've never made jam or jelly or marmalade before (what is the difference between the three anyhow?), but I figured Google would help me find my way and I wasn't disappointed.

I found this insanely easy peach jam recipe from In Jennie's Kitchen. Since we all know I like super easy, one pot cooking ideas, this THREE INGREDIENT peach jam recipe was totally for me.

Since I wasn't sure if the jam would come out edible or not, I made a smaller batch and also decreased the sugar so it would be "healthier" for my little bean.

I really think you should try it out for yourself. I made this jar of jam on Saturday afternoon. I let it sit overnight in the fridge to "rest" and this is how much is left (Monday evening).

I'm pretty sure the half empty jar speaks for itself.

Happy Jamming!


Peach Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

5 peaches washed, peeled, pitted and cut up
1 cup of white sugar
Lemon juice (either from one lemon or from my favorite friend the lemon juice bottle)

Directions:

Add the peaches, sugar and lemon juice to a deep stock pot. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat. Use a spoon to skim the foam from the top. Apparently skimming the top keeps the jam from being cloudy. I'm not sure why it's bad to have cloudy jam, but Jennie said it's no good so I skimmed my jam.

After you skim the top, reduce the heat to a happy simmer...there should still be bubbles. Let it simmer and thicken. I used a potato masher to mash the peaches at this point so it would give me a finer jam. After simmering for maybe ten minutes, the jam should be a good consistency. It will still thicken once it cools.

I followed In Jennie's Kitchen's advice and skipped the hot water method and instead just turned the jars upside down after filling and tightening the lids. Apparently the hot jam creates enough heat to make an airtight seal on the container. Since this was easier than the water bath method, I obviously chose this method. No one has died or gotten sick from the jam so far!!

I let mine cool completely on the counter top and then popped it directly into the fridge so we could eat it in the morning.

My recipe made one 500 gram jar of peach jam.