Homemade Peach Preserves

The perfect spoonful of sweet summer, these homemade peach preserves are a family favorite, on toast, biscuits and cornbread or stirred through yogurt.

Peaches were my mother’s favorite fruit so their rich fragrance always brings me good memories of her. I often made peach preserves just for her, so she’d have jars to enjoy all year round. 

Homemade Peach Preserves

If you don’t have peaches, this recipe works with most stone fruit, for instance, nectarines, apricot and plums. 

Ingredients

2 lbs or 910g fresh peaches

3 1/2 cups or 700g sugar, divided

Half pack pectin - Just less than 1 oz or about 25g (I use the Sure-Jell brand and the box says 1.75oz or 49g.)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 cup or 60ml lemon juice

4-5 clean, sterilized jam jars

Wide-mouth funnel for filling jars

 

N.B. Make sure your jars and lids are thoroughly sterilized because this quick canning method does not require a hot water bath or pressure cooking. If you have any doubts whatsoever, store the jam in the refrigerator once cooled.

 

Method

Halve your peaches and remove the pits. Cut them into thick slices.

In a large pot, add your peaches with 3 cups or 600g of the sugar, the sea salt and the lemon juice and give it a good stir.

 

Cook over a low to medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming any white foam that forms around the top. The peaches should start falling apart and turning to pulp.

Get your sterilized jars ready for filling by lining them up on some paper towels (to catch the inevitable drips onto your countertop) and inserting a metal teaspoon into each one. A wide-mouth funnel will make this so much easier! Put the funnel into the first jar, at the ready.

 

Meanwhile, mix your pectin with the remaining half cup or 100g of sugar.

 

Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool for just a few minutes. Use your hand blender to puree the mixture to your desired consistency. I like to blend half and leave the other half as it is. If you don’t have a hand blender, you can use a blender/liquidizer or leave the peaches as they are. 

Return the pot to the heat and add in the sugar/pectin mixture. Mix well and bring the pot to a full rolling bowl for at least a minute.

Ladle the boiling hot jam into the clean jars, moving the funnel along as you go. Do be careful not to splash jam on yourself.

 

Remove the teaspoons and screw the lids on the jars very tightly, using a towel to hold the jars and turn the lids, starting with jar one. When you get to jar three or four, start over at number one, trying to tighten them all just a little more.

 

Turn the jars upside down so that the hot jam further sterilizes the insides of your clean lids.

Leave the jars upside down until the jam has completely cooled, which could take several hours. Turn the jars upright and check that the center button on the lids have popped in, if your lids have those. 

Any jars whose buttons have not popped in should be stored in the refrigerator as this means the seal is not good and bacteria could get in. If the jam lasts that long. :) 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating National Peach Month by sharing recipes with peaches! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day of the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below. 

• A Day in the life on the Farm: Fresh Peach Salsa 
• Food Lust People Love: Homemade Peach Preserves 
• Sneha's Recipe: Keto Peach Iced Tea 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Peaches and Cream Mini Cheesecakes 
• Our Good Life: Peach and Prosciutto Flatbread 
• Mayuri's Jikoni: Peach Baked Oatmeal 
• Culinary Cam: Roasted Peach-Tomato Gazpacho with Crème Fraîche

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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