Flashback Friday - Peach Jam, Cold Mornings

Joining Suzy at Kitchen Bouquet for another fun Flashback Friday! Check out the flashbacks at Suzy's! It's been a busy summer and it sure has flown by quickly. It's already starting to get cooler in the mornings here. Even with hot flashes, so maybe this should be called a "hotflashback," but I can definitely tell it's going to be Autumn soon enough! I love the cooler weather! and I love sweet-hot jams.

So this time I'm flashing back to when I learned how to can fruit. and a perfect preserve for the cooler weather. Peach Jam for a Cold Morning. Only I cheated and used frozen fruit. Of course I never did anything as written and with canning the first time I was a little nervous that I could not only make someone sick, I could kill them. Well, not with fruit according to my canning guru from the Cooking Forum, Michigan Annie (not Woodie Annie, I think she buys hers!) it seems all the sugar is a good thing in this case. Not botulism, maybe some mold, and that you can see, so I couldn't possibly poison anyone.

So I tried it. and I didn't make anyone sick. By the time I was done with my canning addiction, they may have been sick of preserves, but not sick to their stomachs! At least no one admitted it to me. There is a definitely a HUGE difference here between homemade and store-bought. HUGE! And if you have no patience to cook it down until it gels, which believe me can be excruciatingly long sometimes, well, you can always use it for a sauce for ice cream or pancakes!

These are two of my favorites.


Peach Preserves for Cold Mornings
source: Doris (Ruddmd) - Cooking Forum
Printable recipe

3 pounds ripe peaches, peeled and quartered
l/2 medium-size orange, quartered and seeded
2 habaneros, (seeds and all)
4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup honey (the lightest, mildest you can find)

Combine peaches, sugar, and honey in a Dutch oven; stir well. Cover and let stand 45 minutes. Place knife blade attachment in food processor bowl; add orange quarters and habanero chiles. Process until finely chopped, stopping once to scrape down sides.

Place orange, habanero chiles, and an equal amount of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until orange rind is tender.

Bring peach mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high, and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes, stirring often. Add orange mixture. Bring to a boil; cook, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes or until candy thermometer registers 221, stirring often. Remove from heat; stir in almond extract. Skim off foam with a metal spoon.
Quickly pour hot mixture into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process jars in boiling-water bath 10 minutes.

Yield: 6 half-pints.


It's just perfect on a toasted bagel on a nice, brisk autumn morning!













and this one from epicurious. Meyer Lemon season will be here before you know it...

Meyer Lemon Marmalade
Source: Gourmet- December 1999
Printable recipe

6 Meyer lemons (1 1/2 lb)
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
Cheesecloth
Kitchen string
6 (1/2-pint) Mason-type jars, sterilized

Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.

Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.

Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within 1/4-inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.

Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.

Cooks' note:
• Marmalade keeps, stored in a cool, dark place, up to 1 year.

Makes 6 (1/2-pint) jars

So you must know me by now, I didn't EXACTLY follow the directions. I didn't leave it overnight a few times, and I didn't use a cheesecloth at all. I picked the seeds out before I poured into the jars. hey, works for me!

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