Saturday, July 5, 2008

Peaches from the Farmer's Market


We have a new Farmer's Market here in Knoxville on Thursday evenings. So, I loaded up the kids and went this past Thursday. The only thing that I bought were these peaches, so what do you do when you have a bag full of peaches? Make jam of course! I love to make jam, there is just something about the fact that you use fresh fruit, sugar and a couple of other ingredients, cook it down for about 20 minutes, put it into some jars and let it cool. When you open up the jar, you have thick jam. The only addition to my normal go to recipe was that I added half of a scraped vanilla bean, so you have those lovely little specks throughout the jam. I also have a little trick to get my jars to seal, when you fill the jars with your jam, put the lids on tight and flip them up side down on their lids to cool. Once cooled, flip them back over and the lids should be sealed. This is easier to me than sticking the whole jar down into boiling water.
Peach-Vanilla Bean Jam
2 pounds peaches, peeled, and cubed
5 cups sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
Combine all ingredients into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Stirring frequently, continue boiling for about 15-20 minutes or until your candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees F. Transfer to your canning jars and cool. This recipe made 10 of the small jars that I used.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peach jam sounds so good! Fresh peaches in the summer is one of the things I look forward to the most.

Bunny said...

the jam sounds great, fresh peach jam mmmmmmm!!! i've never canned anything before but i,ve been thinking about it alot.

giz said...

Our season is later than yours and I'm just dieing for the peaches to ripen here. Peach jam sounds incredibly delightful. We're just finishing straberries here.

Jules Someone said...

This sounds fabulous. But I have questions... does this end up a freezer jam if you don't process it in a water bath? I'm fine with that, just curious. I'm going to make this soon!

Megan said...

Love the jam! I'll be doing more canning at the latter part of the summer. We should do some together. I hear about some of the DB'ers using Skye(?) to cook and chat. We should check it out. Are you game?

Megan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I have never had jam with peaches, that sounds so yummy! Thanks.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Your peach jam looks so yummy. A couple of teaspoons in a pan gravy on top of pork chops or chicken would be another way to enjoy your jam!

Deborah said...

I actually made a ton of peach/vanilla bean jam last year, and I have been loving it!! My mom taught me the trick of turning it upside down - works like a charm every time!

Jaime said...

i have never made my own jam before but homemade peach jam sounds delicious

Barbara Bakes said...

I'm so jealous! I've been dying for a great peach lately and all they have are hard flavorless ones at the market. Hopefully soon we'll get some great ones.

Bethie said...

I want to make this!! We need to do this together. :)

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Peaches from the Farmer's Market


We have a new Farmer's Market here in Knoxville on Thursday evenings. So, I loaded up the kids and went this past Thursday. The only thing that I bought were these peaches, so what do you do when you have a bag full of peaches? Make jam of course! I love to make jam, there is just something about the fact that you use fresh fruit, sugar and a couple of other ingredients, cook it down for about 20 minutes, put it into some jars and let it cool. When you open up the jar, you have thick jam. The only addition to my normal go to recipe was that I added half of a scraped vanilla bean, so you have those lovely little specks throughout the jam. I also have a little trick to get my jars to seal, when you fill the jars with your jam, put the lids on tight and flip them up side down on their lids to cool. Once cooled, flip them back over and the lids should be sealed. This is easier to me than sticking the whole jar down into boiling water.
Peach-Vanilla Bean Jam
2 pounds peaches, peeled, and cubed
5 cups sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
Combine all ingredients into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Stirring frequently, continue boiling for about 15-20 minutes or until your candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees F. Transfer to your canning jars and cool. This recipe made 10 of the small jars that I used.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Peach jam sounds so good! Fresh peaches in the summer is one of the things I look forward to the most.

Bunny said...

the jam sounds great, fresh peach jam mmmmmmm!!! i've never canned anything before but i,ve been thinking about it alot.

giz said...

Our season is later than yours and I'm just dieing for the peaches to ripen here. Peach jam sounds incredibly delightful. We're just finishing straberries here.

Jules Someone said...

This sounds fabulous. But I have questions... does this end up a freezer jam if you don't process it in a water bath? I'm fine with that, just curious. I'm going to make this soon!

Megan said...

Love the jam! I'll be doing more canning at the latter part of the summer. We should do some together. I hear about some of the DB'ers using Skye(?) to cook and chat. We should check it out. Are you game?

Megan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I have never had jam with peaches, that sounds so yummy! Thanks.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Your peach jam looks so yummy. A couple of teaspoons in a pan gravy on top of pork chops or chicken would be another way to enjoy your jam!

Deborah said...

I actually made a ton of peach/vanilla bean jam last year, and I have been loving it!! My mom taught me the trick of turning it upside down - works like a charm every time!

Jaime said...

i have never made my own jam before but homemade peach jam sounds delicious

Barbara Bakes said...

I'm so jealous! I've been dying for a great peach lately and all they have are hard flavorless ones at the market. Hopefully soon we'll get some great ones.

Bethie said...

I want to make this!! We need to do this together. :)