Life's a Peach

I wait all year long for the fresh fruit to be ready to pick. Nothing says summer to me like going out to the raspberry patches with my basket and picking all my own fruit. My favorite part is bringing it all back home and making jam out of it. Not only is it absolutely delicious but they make great gifts for teachers and co-workers too. This year, I embarked on a new jam. J had made awesome peach-raspberry jam last year and I was dying to make some of my own. With that in mind, my two little girls and I set out to the peach orchard and the raspberry patch. After picking all the perfect peaches, we headed off to the raspberry patch braving the heat and the hundreds of bees. Nothing was going to stop me from my delicious jam, not even some very selfish bees! After getting home in one piece my little L and I washed all the fruit, and measured out what we would need for our first batch.

The peaches we pick were absolutely beautiful. They were so ripe I was able to peel the skin off with my fingers. Perfect for my jam!

Every thing is measured out and ready to go. We did 2 cups of raspberries and 2 cups of finely diced peaches. (I slightly mash my fruit before putting it in the pot. Put the fruit, 7 cups of sugar, and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice in a very large pot on the stove and heat over medium-high heat. Stir CONSTANTLY! Mash and stir until the sugar is all dissolved and the fruit is mashed. Continue stirring until it comes to a rolling boil (A boil that persists even though you are stirring it). Once it reaches a boil add 1/2 packet of pectin. Continue boiling the jam for about 1-3 minutes more. You know the jam is done when you dip a spoon into the jam and hold it sideways over the pot and 2 drips come together to form one drip before dripping into the pan. Once the jam is done remove the pan from the heat and ladle into sterile jars (see below for instructions to sterilize jars). Place tops on jars and process in large pot of boiling water for 5 min. (I do it the old fashioned way). Or refer to J's previous post on processing jars without putting them in boiling water. Once processed remove jars from boiling water and place on counter, soon you will begin to hear the tops "pop" down and seal the canning jars.

To sterilize jars bring a large pot to boiling. Place jars and lids into the boiling water and boil for 10 min. Take jars and lids out of boiling water and let dry on counter.

Hint: I always sterilize all my jars first before starting the jam so that they are ready to ladle the jam in once the jam is ready.

Hint: also materials are important. I use a large pot to sterilize all my jars and process my jars, and a canning kit is also a life saver!

The best recipe for Raspberry Jam EVER!

*4 cups granulated suger

*4 cups raspberries

-place sugar on baking sheets and warm in 250` for 15 min (warm sugar dissolves better)

-Place berries in saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, mashing berries as they heat. Boil hard for 1 min. Stirring constantly.

-Add warm suger, Return to a boil and boil until mixture forms a gel about 5 minutes. Jam is done when drops are very thick and 2 drops run together before falling off the spoon.

-Ladle into steralized jars and process. Process for 5 minutes. (that is, put jars with lids secured tightly into boiling pot of water and leave them in there for 5 minutes.)

ENJOY your absolutly delicious jam!