A Peachy Jam Kind of Day...

Today I woke up feeling like a new person. Storms were gone and I was excited to try to make some jam and salsa today. I knew that I would had to elicit help from my daughter in order to freeze  the peaches we had acquired.

Before getting sick I would can as much as I could in the fall. I loved to do it and used to have the energy to spend the entire day in the kitchen….But those days are long gone. I am lucky to spend an hour or two without completely tanking… Talk about your new normals!!! haha

So my sweet 16 year old daughter agreed to help me throughout this process. Instead of canning the peaches we chose to freeze the peaches and then seal them in bags. We then decided it would be easier to be able to make one batch of jam at a time. Then throughout the year we would pull a bag of peaches out of the freezer and make a new batch of jam each time we needed one.

By doing it this way we decided it would really help me to not cause another huge flare by trying to do it all in one day. So today we froze the peaches and made one batch of jam. Because my health does not allow me to have any type of refined sugar. I found a very easy recipe on-line that only has 1/4 cup of honey and 1 lemon added to the peaches. All you had to do to thicken it was cook it down for about 20 minutes. I was very excited to taste this recipe. It tasted so fresh and is so good for you! A jam not packed with tons of sugar…just fruit. I will share the recipe below:

Here is what my jam looked like… It was super pretty and very good!

Peach Honey Sweetened 
Freezer Jam (Pectin Free)

Ingredients:

         2 cups of fresh or frozen (partially thawed) peaches

         1/4 cup honey (more or less if desired)

         Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 Tbls)

         

Directions:

.    Dice up about 1/3 cup of the peaches. Set aside. Coarsely mash the rest of the peaches. (I like to use a pastry blender or potato masher)

.    Transfer the mashed peaches to a heavy bottomed sauce pan or even a frying pan.

.    Bring the mixture to a simmer allowing it to cook down for a few min. Add HALF of the lemon and all the honey, stirring well to combine. Continue to simmer the mixture for about 15-25 min; stirring every once in awhile to keep in from burning.

.   Toward the end of the 15 min, keep a close eye on the mixture, stirring more frequently. Add the diced peaches in the last five min or so of cooking. and continue to cook till ready. This helps give the jam a fresher taste. It will begin to thicken pretty quickly and as you are stirring, draw a rubber spatula through the mixture. Before it is ready, you will notice that the mixture fills in the space created by the spatula very quickly. As it becomes ready, it will fill the space in more slowly, leaving an open space for a few seconds as it slowly fills in. Also, keep in mind that the mixture WILL thicken even more after it cools.

.    Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool. If you feel that you overcooked the jam and it is too thick for your liking, just add a little more water or lemon juice to the mixture. It is pretty versatile stuff!

.    Once cooled, serve on your favorite grain/gluten free biscuits or crackers. The jam also makes a great filling for mini tarts, cookies and (cup) cakes.

This recipe makes about 1 cup of jam. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or jar and freeze for up to one month.