As opposed to new-age jam, this is old fashioned jam. What’s the difference, you ask? Beats the heck out of me. As far as I know, people are still making the same old jam these days. Maybe new-age jam requires digital instant-read thermometers, calcium chloride, or heaven forbid, commercial pectin. Or maybe it means you need to use put spherified strawberry caviar inside, or make it with agar-agar? (I’m probably just excited about spending a week in the Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab next week, where things like spherified strawberry caviar exist.)
Because I’m telling you that boozy concoctions are far from new-agey. Irma Rombauer waxes poetic about brandied fruit and the giant tub of the stuff her family kept in the cellar and just added fruit to all summer long as it came into season. Then anytime you wanted a hit you went and scooped out a cup to share with the family – kids too (a cup of booze to yourself is a recipe for a short night). Irma was a lucky girl. I mean, I got a little wine at Christmas, but I didn’t like the stuff. Now if it had come with fruit soaking in it, that may have been another story. And I may now be an alcoholic. So maybe I should count my blessings and thank my parents for not boozing me up at a young age.
Anyway, peach jam. No pectin. Just fruit and sugar and lemon juice. Now the jamming experts will probably tell you you’re better off with more sugar than this and you’re much better off using commercial pectin. I say hooey. The trick I picked up from a friend is to sieve the fruit out of the syrup, leave it aside while you cook down the syrup almost to the gelling point, and then add the fruit back it. Thus saving the flavour and texture of the fruit. Grab a large panier at the local market and get pitting. The Ontario peaches are actually really good this year. the freestones, I mean. I had them at the beginning of the season and they were awful, but now they have some real flavour to them. I tried them in Ontario last week where I figured they’d be better closer to the source – Niagara – and was pleasantly surprised. Then I tried them in Quebec, shipped from Niagara, and wasn’t disappointed either.
You need to blanch the peaches, which is annoying. But do it just a few peaches at a time so the water temperature doesn’t drop too much and you end up slowly boiling the peaches instead of blanching them. That means boil a pot of water, drop in 3 peaches, wait for it to come back to a boil, and count to 1 minute. Then transfer the peaches with a slotted spoon to a bowl of water with some ice cubes in it, or a bowl of cold water sitting in a sink of ice. Wait until they’re cool enough to handle (put 3 more peaches in the boiling water), and then peel them. Repeat, repeat, until all the peaches are boiled, cooled, and peeled. I ended up wasting too much peach flesh when my peaches didn’t feel like boiling properly. I still had enough, though. And I ended up with four 125mL jars and two 250mL jars of old-fashioned peach jam. Precious, I know. The fruit’s not organic, though, so I’ll only charge $3 for a small jar and $6 for a large.
The real trick is getting the right lemon/sugar balance, with enough peach flavour sticking around. the sieving trick is key, as is soaking the fruit in the sugar first to let the juices come out, so there’s more to boil down. Then taste. If you do this, you will have amazing jam. And if it doesn’t work out, you can buy mine. Good luck!
The recipe is adapted from the blog, A Sweet Spoonful, and I used it because it didn’t require pectin or any other fruit or chemicals.
Old Fashioned Peach Jam
5-6 cups of peaches
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar (or more to taste)
Place peaches 3 at a time in boiling water. Wait 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in ice water (see note above). When cool, remove skins. Place fruit in a large bowl. Blanch more peaches 3 at a time. When all peaches are peeled and cool, slice crosswise like a checkerboard to remove chunks directly into the bowl (or remove pits and chop the peaches into approximately 1/2″ cubes). Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit in the bowl. Don’t stir. It will help release the juices. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, or overnight.
Pour the fruit through a large sieve into a large pot on the stove and bring to a vigorous boil with the lemon juice. Make sure you get as much of the liquid as possible out of the peaches, and scrape in any sugar that sticks to the bowl. Press down lightly on the peaches to release more juice. Set the fruit aside. Reduce the syrup for about 10 minutes in the pot. Then add the fruit back to the syrup on the stove and cook for about 10-15 minutes more, or until the syrup comes to the gelling point (use the bowl in the freezer trick or a thermometer. Place a small plate in the freezer for a minute, then pour a half teaspoon of the jam on the plate and put it back in the freezer for a minute. Take it out and push it to see if it wrinkles. If it does, it’s done). At any point in the boiling you can use the back of a slotted spoon to mash the fruit a little. It all depends on how chunky you like your jam.
Pour into sterilized jars and process for 15 minutes int a hot water bath (let the water come to a boil again before setting the timer). Or if you don’t feel like canning it, just keep it unprocessed in the fridge. It won’t last as long (about a month max), but you may not need it to…
Boy this is good jam. And saving the life of the peaches a little by boiling them for not as long is brilliant. Thanks, friend. Jam is about sharing traditions, after all. Guess it can never really become old fashioned if we keep passing it along.
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