“Stop and smell the peaches.” -Anon.
In northeast Texas the onset of summer signals the beginning of the peach harvest and that means it’s time to get out your canning equipment put up some jars of sweet smelling peach jam, jelly, or preserves. In my kitchen that pleasant aroma will come from Peach Cardamom Jam because that’s my wife’s favorite.
Although it can be a bit messy and labor intensive, canning is fairly easy and the results make the effort more than worthwhile. If you are new to canning then a few basics are very important and I suggest you check out “Canning 101” on the FoodInJars.com website.
Although there are numerous Peach Jam recipes online, I chose this one by Marisa McClellan on her website, FoodInJars.com, because it does not require Pectin and her instructions are so complete and easy to follow.
Prepare a canning pot and four half pint jars.
Place all of the ingredients into a low, wide, non-reactive pot and stir to combine.
Cover the pot with the lid or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for one to four hours. This process is called “maceration.”
Now place the pot, uncovered, on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly for 20-25 minutes, until the total volume in the pot has reduced by at least one-third and the jam mixture looks quite thick.
As the jam mixture cooks, use an immersion blender or a potato masher to crush or mash the diced peaches.
Carefully funnel the hot jam mixture into the prepared warm jars leaving ¼ to ½ inch headspace.
Wipe the jar rims with a wet paper towel, apply the warm lids and process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.
PLEASE NOTE - The "Sign Up To Be Notified Of New Site Additions" has been disabled due to interference from hackers and spammers. This feature will likely not be replaced ... sorry for the inconvenience. ALSO - The website is now 99% complete and should be pretty much bug free ... if you notice any glitches or have suggestions, please let me know via the Contact page. CURRENTLY the individual recipes are being reviewed and, when necessary, modified.
