Canning Vanilla Peach Jam Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you leave the skin on peaches when making jam? ›

Chop 1 pound unpeeled yellow peaches into 1/2-inch pieces

And while leaving the skins on the fruit for your jams and preserves is a personal choice, they recommend it for the color it lends the finished jam—and for the fact that the skin imparts more peach flavor.

Low-acid peaches – Use hot-pack method. When jars are filled, add ¼ teaspoon citric acid or 2 teaspoons lemon juice per pint. Process as indicated in hot pack instructions. Scald, peel and slice peaches.

Today I made peach jam out of canned peaches. You can use almost any fruit. The fruit can be fresh, frozen or canned. Most of the time I make strawberry jam with frozen berries, but today I needed jam (dad has toast every morning with jam) and I was almost out.

White peaches are naturally lower in acid, so they require the addition of lemon juice or other acid to safely can. Definitely don't skip this. Marisa recommends 1 tablespoon of added lemon juice per finished pint, but I figured 2 or 3 couldn't hurt.

Getting Ready to Preserve Peaches

Dip quickly in cold water and slip off skins. Cut in half, remove pits and slice, if desired.

This is a process of color loss and does not mean the jam or jelly is going bad. The browning starts at the top of the jar and slowly works its way down. If your jars were properly sealed and the seal is still intact, the jam or jelly, although not as pretty as it once was, is safe to eat.

Peaches may be covered with your choice of sugar syrup, water, or apple or white grape juice. Sugar is not needed for safety in canning fruit; but in addition to adding flavor, sugar in the liquid helps to keep the texture of the fruit firm and preserve the color.

We put a lot of work into our canning and want our jars of love to be perfect. Fruit float occurs because air is trapped in the cells of the fruit. If products are properly prepared using methods in tested recipes, most of the air will be removed, and the possibility of fruit float will be reduced.

Add pectin.

Whisk a tablespoon of powdered pectin (preferably the no-sugar-needed variety) into the pot of cooking jam. Test for thickness and add another tablespoon if needed.

How long does homemade canned peach jam last? ›

A: For best quality, it is recommended that all home-canned foods be used within a year. Most homemade jams and jellies that use a tested recipe, and have been processed in a canner for the recommended time, should retain best quality and flavor for up to that one year recommended time.

Fruit jam and fruit jam with pectin may contain a class II preservative, a pH adjusting agent or an antifoaming agent. Both types cannot contain apple or rhubarb fruit.

Your jam may taste bitter because it's over-cooked. Sometimes overcooked jam can be a good thing, as it has a nice caramel flavor that will work well used in desserts. However, if it's really overcooked the sugar will give it a bitter burnt taste.

Freezing peaches is a little easier and quicker and produces wonderfully sweet and delicious peaches to put in your freezer. Canning peaches produces jars of peeled and halved peaches for your pleasure.

Clingstone. The pretty yellow peach flesh "clings" to the stone, and therefore the name. These are the earliest peaches to come in. Distinguished by their juiciness and sweet peach flavor, they lend themselves very well to jams, preserves and canning.

As such, eating a whole peach with its peel may provide the greatest potential health benefits. However, peach skin may contain more pesticides than the flesh. If you want to reduce pesticide levels on peach skin, wash and peel the peach before eating it, and/or choose organic ones at the store.

For perfect pie filling, be sure to buy peaches at the peak of ripeness; the skin should easily bruise with the lightest amount of pressure. Many bakers prefer to remove the skins from peaches when using them for pie filling, as some find the skin's texture unpleasant and are put off by its slightly bitter flavor.

Can you eat peach skin? Peach skins are 100 percent edible, so you don't have to peel them. However, sometimes if peaches are cooked down long enough, such as in a cobbler or crisp, or you're making something smooth like peach curd or peach ice cream, then the skin may ruin the texture.