Peach Jam is one of the best ways to make good use of the peaches you grow or buy. It’s second only to canning peaches in syrup—in my opinion at least.
When it comes to peach jam, we like to make cooked jam so it doesn’t have to be stored in the freezer but will still last throughout the whole year. Making and canning cooked peach jam may sound intimidating, but I’ll show you that it’s actually not too complicated, and the results are well worth the effort.
What You’ll Need
- 5-qt or larger pot with a lid for blanching peaches and cooking jam
- Mixing Spoon or Heat-Resistant Spatula
- 4+ cup Mixing Bowl
- Canning Funnel*
- Headspace Gauge*
- Ladle*
- Jar Grabber*
- Magnetic Lid Lifter*
- 1-cup Measuring Cup*
- 1/4-cup Measuring Cup*
- 4-cup Liquid Measuring Cup
- Water Bath Canner*
- *This Kit contains the water bath canner, canning funnel, magnetic lid lifter, ladle, headspace measurer, measuring cups, and headspace gauge.
Ingredients
- 1 package of low-sugar SURE JELL pectin
- 3 cups of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of butter or margarine
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
This Video I Made Will Walk You Through This Entire Process
Getting Your Canning Space Set Up for Peach Jam
Before I start preparing the peaches in any way, I like to get my space all set up. I get my ingredients out and measured and all of my tools ready to go.
Step 1. Get out your jars and wash them
For canning jam, I usually us 8-oz, 12-oz or 1-pint jars.
I just fill up my sink with warm soapy water and give my jars a quick wash. I run them through the dishwasher before putting them away, and I store them upside down to keep dust out, so they’re pretty clean already. This step just gets anything on them cleaned off.
Give them a quick rinse and let them air dry.
Step 2. Fill a pots with water and get it boiling for peaches and lids
I recommend at least a 5-quart pot for this blanching peaches. I use a 12-quart stock pot.
You can use a small pot for your canning lids.
Step 3. Fill one side of the sink with cold tap water and the other side with icy cold tap water
The regular cold water will be for soaking the peaches before blanching. The ice water is for putting the hot peaches in after we take them out of the boiling water.
Step 4. Put jars in the oven at 225°F
This will sanitize your jars and make them nice and hot when you add hot jam to them.
Step 5. Prepare Ingredients
For one batch of jam, we’ll need 4 1/2 cups of chopped peaches. I just use a 4-cup liquid measuring cup and fill it as I chop the peaches. I can eyeball approximately 1/2 cup above the 4-cup line and that’s been good enough for me. But you can fill 4 cups, put those peaches into a pot, then fill another 1/2 cup and add those peaches to the pot.
I also get out a bowl that I can put the 3 cups of sugar from this recipe into.
I take 1/4 of a cup from that bowl and put it into a separate bowl. I mix the packet of SURE JELL in with the 1/4 cup of dry sugar.
You can also put your 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice into a measuring cup to have ready for when you need it.
Step 6. Prepare the Water Bath Canner
I set this up outside on a large Camp Chef stove. That way I don’t heat up the house too much and I keep some of the mess outside.
Fill the water bath canner high enough that when it’s filled with jars, it will cover them with at least 1-2 inches of water. Get that water heating up so it’s boiling when you’re ready.
Prepare Your Peaches for Your Jam
Step 7. Blanch the Peaches
Put some peaches into the pot of boiling water on the stove. Only add enough to have one layer of peaches in the pot. Leave them in the boiling water for 60 seconds. Then remove them and place them in the sink full of ice water.
Step 8. Skin, Pit, and Chop Your Peaches
If your peaches are ripe, the skin should easily slide off.
Then, cut each peach in half and remove the pit. Use a spoon to scrape out the hard fibers from around where the pit was. Now, chop your peaches into small pieces and put them in your measuring cup until you have 4 1/2 cups.
If your peaches aren’t totally ripe, you’ll probably need to use a knife to remove the skin. When this happens, I prefer to cut the peaches in half, remove the pit, scrape out the fibers, then cut each half in half again. Quartered peaches are easier to skin than half or whole peaches.
Making Peach Jam
Step 9. Mix the Cold Ingredients
Put the chopped peaches, lemon juice, butter, and the 1/4 cup of sugar and pectin mixture into a pot. For this, use at least a 5-qt pot. I prefer to use a larger stock pot. This jam can develop foam while it boils can can spill over. The butter helps keep the foam down but it’s still better to use a larger pot if possible.
Mix these ingredients well. Then, turn the stove to high and stir continuously until it gets to a rolling boil, even while stirring.
Step 10. Add the sugar and boil for 1 minute
Once you get to a rolling boil, add the rest of the sugar to the mixture and quickly stir it in. Return it to a rolling boil over high heat. Once it’s really rolling, set a time for 60 seconds.
As soon as the timer runs out, take the pot off the heat. Immediately ladle the jam into your hot jars.
Can Your Peach Jam
Step 11. Fill the jars with hot jam
Fill the jars until you run out of jam. Each jar should be filled to about 1/4 inch from the top. Use a headspace gauge to measure it.
Wipe the rim of each filled jar. Then, use your magnetic lid lifter to pull a hot lid out of your small pot of boiling water. Set a lid on each jar. Then, put a ring on and tighten it lightly. The rings should not be tightened down as hard as you can. Just gently hand-tighten them.
Step 12. Put the jars in a boiling water bath
With your jars all ready, you can place them in your boiling water bath. Once you’ve filled the bath, cover the top with a lid and set a timer for 10 minutes.
Step 13. Pull the jars out and let them cool
After the timer runs out, use your jar grabber to remove each jar from the water bath. I like to place them on an adjacent table covered with a towel.
Let the jars cool completely for a full 24 hours. After 24 hours, check to make sure that all of the jar lids sealed. Just check to make sure the lids popped down. If, after 24 hours, any of the lids can be pushed down and pop back up, those jars did not seal.
If you have a jar that doesn’t seal, you can re-process it in the water bath or you can just put it in the refrigerator and use it soon!
That’s all it takes to make lots of delicious peach jam. It’s better than what you can get at the store and makes terrific use of your peaches!
