OKay, so in the spring we had an arborist come and do a "deep root fertilization" for our big Maple. Since they had the truck there, we had them also fertilize our peach tree (common Elberta peach) and our semi-dwarf Honeycrisp apple tree.
Since there was no hard "Mother's Day frost" this year, and combined with the fertilization treatment, our fruit trees were so heavy with fruit that some of the branches were nearly breaking.
I watched the Honeycrisp closely, but some sort of damn bugs got to every damn apple- they were wormy and some sort of beetle was eating the leaves.
We didn't get a single Honeycrisp from our heavily-laden tree.
The peach tree, on the other hand, provided many, many pounds of the sweetest peaches I've ever tasted. Some peaches were sacrificed to the wildlife, but many went into a lovely spiced peach jam.
Here's the recipe. And when I say 'recipe', it's very loosely meant:
8 - 12# of peeled, pitted, ripe peaches. (After picking the fruit, remove any bruises or spots from the peaches, put them in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then put the peaches into very cold water. Make an "x with a knife at the bottom of the peach. In theory, the skin should peel away easily. Be careful- the pit will be very hot!)
2 1/2 - 4 c of sugar.
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice.
Put peeled peaches into a large pot on the stove. Do not turn the heat on yet. Sprinkle the sugar over the surface of the peaches, and stir. Do it again and again. You're essentially trying to put layers of sugar among the peaches, to make sure they are covered. Let the pot sit undisturbed for at least an hour, until the sugar is fully dissolved. You'll see a lot of peach juice, too.
Add the lemon juice, and stir.
Now turn on the heat- you want the heat to be medium at most. You're going to bring the peaches to a boil. Stir often, and don't let them scorch or burn. Boil them for ten minutes, and then turn off the heat. Let the peaches get to room temperature. Turn on the heat to medium again. This is also the point that you can taste the peaches and see if they need more sugar. I'll also add a spice recipe below if you want spiced peaches.
Repeat the heat and stir and cool down and heat again
SIX times.
Now, this is going to take a ridiculous amount of time. The nice thing is that the sugar serves as a preservative, so you can let it sit covered (off of the heat) overnight with no issue. My first batch not only sat overnight, but I was only able to do one cycle of heat/boil/stir/turn off heat before I had to go work for the day. It's fine.
As you get to the fourth and fifth and sixth boil, you'll notice it getting thicker and thicker. The heat will not have to be as high in order to bring to a boil. That means you need to watch it very carefully so as not to scorch and burn it. If you want spiced peach jam, add the spices in before the third boil.
You'll notice this recipe does not call for pectin; it uses the peach's own pectin and sugar to help it gel and act as a preserve.
If you want smoother jam, use a hand blender to blend up chunks between the fifth and sixth boiling.
After the sixth boil, water bath can the jam while it's still hot.
Voila!
Spice recipe: for 8-10 pounds of peaches, use 1/2 tsp of the following, mixed in a small bowl before added to the jam: Allspice, Cinnamon, Ginger, Ground Cloves, nutmeg, and if you have it, Cardamom.
For over 10 pounds of peaches, increase the spices to 1 tsp each of the above spices.
Enjoy!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by TheGrey
