I ordered a box of Peaches with my
Bountiful Basket (click here to see what I'm talking about). After letting them ripen up for about 5 days, I was ready to go!! (They come NOT ripe from Bountiful Baskets, so you have time to figure out what to do with them, separate them so they ripen at different times, etc)
I was so excited to make Freezer Jam (Cook jam is going to happen tomorrow!). A friend was supposed to come over, but her munchkin was sick, so alas, I'm going to have to order another case of something yummy in the future to be able to show her how to do this!
Start by cutting the peaches in half, and removing the pits (after washing them of course!).
If you get a peach (or whatever) that looks like this...
Just cut it off. I could have been a lot more careful about what a cut, but I was in a hurry, because I was doing a "Naptime" activity, so from start to finish, it needed to take less than 2 hours!
However, if you get something that looks like this, after cutting the bad part off, I don't use it. Up to you... you could just cut a deeper chunk until it's totally gone, but I don't want to mess with it.
I cut up about 1/2 the case
And into the bowl they went!
It was about 24 peaches. You could peel them if you wanted, but to me, that's to much work :)
The recipe says to cut them into small pieces. Well, either I'm lazy, or I'm in a time crunch (probably both), so I just pop them into my food processor (a blender works great too!)
Get them going by pushing down with a spatula. Don't push to hard, or you'll cut off the tip of your spatula.
Then, after they are mostly pureed, I mash them with my berry masher.
Push down HARD. (this is easier to do in a pyrex type baking dish, but I didn't have the counter room)
Then pull up. You want the pieces to be pretty small.
You can find the recipe for the Jam on the inside of the instant pectin jar.
5 cups of fruit (my 24 peaches did 3 batches, I'm just not going to bore you with it)
2 cups of sugar/splenda
3 TBSP lemon juice (aprox 1 lemon)
Then stir it up, and wait.
For 10 minutes...
Give it one good stir, then add the pectin.
6 TBSP of it. Add it slowly and stir well, making sure there are no clumps.
Ladle it into the jars
Wipe the rims.
Center the lid
Then adjust to finger tightness
Wait 30 minutes. I usually take this time to clean up :)
Clean up is super easy! Just use a couple of the Lysol wipes in the purple container, before it gets hard, and the scrubby side is great for picking up anything that may have dried on!
Clean and ready for my next project, BEFORE the jam is ready to freeze!
Admire your jars.
I always end up with what I call a "sample" jar... not full enough to do anything with except refrigerate and eat
right away.
The jam made with the Instant Pectin is commonly referred to as freezer jam. It's good for 1 year in the freezer, or 3 weeks in the fridge.
