Homemade Spiced Ginger Peach Jam

This Spiced Peach jam has a lovely background of ginger, with a spice mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. This is delicious with homemade scones, over ice cream or on morning toast.

Peaches are in season, and they are practically jumping into people’s shopping carts. As a kid, I wasn’t as crazy about them, because I had an aversion to their fuzzy skins.  As an adult, who loves to cook and bake, I’ve had a change of heart.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t like Ginger“, or “I don’t like to can my own jam (or that you have a fear of canning)“, please give this post a chance– keep on reading.  I’ll show you how to easily peel a lot of peaches, in a very short time.  Maybe, I’ll give you the confidence to learn how to can your own jam.  It’s much easier than you think, and you will never buy store-bought jam again

Peaches make a perfect afternoon snack.  They satisfy my craving for something sweet.  They freeze beautifully, but canning your own peaches is fun to do.  Peaches can be transformed into delicious condiments– as a peach salsa, or Peach Chutney. They make the most delicious pies or fruit crisps. We recently discovered that peaches are delicious as a sweet and savory Caprese salad. As a beverage, a White Peach Sangria is a perfect summer party drink.

A few days ago, I bought some organic California grown peaches, and I allowed them to ripen for a couple more days.   I made six pints of this peach jam in an hour and a half! Seriously!  So, you see, canning doesn’t have to be an all day project.   Here we go!

The easiest way to remove peels from peaches (or apricots) is to bring a pot of water to a boil.  Cut an “x” on the bottom  of the fruit.  Gently add the peaches to the water for 2-3 minutes.

While the water comes to a boil, prepare a large bowl with lots of ice and water.  After waiting for 2 minutes, remove the peaches into the ice water bath, to “shock” them– basically, to stop any cooking of the peaches.  See the “x”?

The skins should easily pull off, with your fingers.  I used eleven peaches, for this jam recipe, and it took about five minutes to produce naked peaches.  Easy!

TIP:  Buy freestone peaches, when possible.  When the peach is cut in half, the peaches come right out.  If you buy “cling” peaches, the peach pits will be a battle to remove.  At this point, you could cut the peaches and place them on a baking sheet. Flash freeze them, for about 1/2 hour, then put them into a freezer container.  (Why flash freeze? The peaches would clump into an ice ball, and will be easier to remove individually.)

When making jam,  my food processor makes the job a lot easier than hand-mashing the fruit.  I want 8 cups of fruit, which equals 11 tennis ball size peaches. I like to pulse the food processor, because I want some texture in my jam– rather than a fruit puree. Your choice.

Traditional jam recipes uses a lot of sugar.  This recipe uses (gasp) seven cups of sugar!  I can justify that by saying that I will yield six pints of jam–and I don’t eat more than one tablespoon of jam at a time.  But, let’s talk about options– I’ve been reading a lot about Pomona Pectin.  I’m going to make it my personal mission to find this product, so that I can develop some jam recipes with a lot less sugar.  For now, this recipe is going to be the traditional way– but feel free to adapt it to suit your own needs.  Add some lemon zest and fresh juice– now, let’s talk about ginger and spices.

This recipes uses both candied ginger (and I keep some in an air-tight container) and fresh ginger.  I love ginger, and I keep ginger root in my freezer, since it doesn’t keep for a long period of time in the refrigerator. Frozen ginger is easy to peel and grate.

If you don’t like ginger, you can skip adding it to this recipe. I have no doubt you will still be pleased with the results.  I found this recipe on Food.com, and I made a few minor tweaks, that I will share on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

The key to successful jam making has to do with being careful about tweaking the ratio of pectin to fruit.  From experience, I also learned that using overripe fruit will yield very soupy jam, that doesn’t set properly.  I didn’t photograph the process, but I have more detailed photos here, if you are interested curious. You want to give the time for the fruit, sugar and pectin to boil enough so that it thickens properly.

I bought a canning kit, a few years ago. It has all the tools that I need– a funnel, tongs, and canning pot and rack.  This makes the process of homemade jam making more efficient. From start to finish, I timed this recipe as 1-1/2 hours to make.  This made 6 and 1/2 pints of jam.  Not bad!

TASTING NOTES:  Texture: The jam set very well, though at room temperature it can be a little thinner than most of my jams.  I might increase the pectin a bit more.  Flavor:  The jam has a beautiful brownish-orange color, because of the spices. You can taste the ginger, which is not overpowering but complimentary to the peaches.  The spices definitely compete with the flavor of the peaches– so I will definitely leave out the cloves next time– not that I don’t like clove!  I’d just like to let the fruit be the top-heading star of this jam.  I wish I had thought to add some vanilla or vanilla bean seeds– and I will, next time! Rating: What I like about this jam is that it isn’t a straight-forward peach jam. Peach jam isn’t my #1 favorite, on toast; Apricot-Pineapple still holds that spot.  Peaches with ginger is quickly moving up my favorite scale.  I think this jam will be delicious in a pan sauce, over vanilla ice cream, or as a base for a tart.  Winner!

If you have a fear of making jam, I encourage you to try it.  The days of having to melt wax are long gone.  Today, you can by self-sealing jars for reasonable prices.  Homemade jam makes fantastic hostess  or Christmas gifts.  Who wouldn’t love to be handed a jar of homemade jam?  I’m hooked, and I have more flavors up my sleeve.

Preserving summer is what it’s all about. Enjoy what’s left of summer– Fall is fast approaching, but fortunately we don’t feel the weather changes until closer to October. I love my hometown of California!

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Spiced Ginger Peach Jam

Home canning is something I enjoy doing, and I find that people love home made jam as a hostess or Christmas gifts. This jam has a lovely background of ginger, with a spice mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. This is delicious with homemade scones, over ice cream or even brushed onto the bottom of a pie crust, before adding fresh peaches.

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Cooling Time8 hours hrs

Total Time9 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Course: Canning, Condiment

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Peach Jam, Spiced Peach Jam

Servings: 2 quarts

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Equipment

• Large bowl of ice with water (for blanching the peaches)
• Canning kit: includes pot with lid, canning rack, funnel, tongs, Canning jars, bands and lids, washed and sanitized (I set them in the water canning pot, while the water is coming to a boil, remove with tongs and set on a baking sheet with a towel

Ingredients

• 8 cups freestone)peaches pitted peeled (about 11 tennis ball sized)
• 1 small lemon zested and set aside (you’ll be using the juice and zest)
• Juice of one small lemon
• 1 box of pectin* I use Sure-Jell
• 7 cups sugar if using low sugar pectin, decreate sugar to 3-4 cups (per box instructions)
• 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger root freshly grated (I keep ginger root frozen)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves optional, as it can be overpowering
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 Tbsp vanilla optional

Instructions

For the peaches:

• Wash the fruit and bring a large pot of water to a boil.

  With a paring knife, cut a small "x" on the bottom of each peach (I also cut an "x" on the top of each peach).

  When the water is boiling, gently place the peaches in the pot and cook for 2 minutes, max.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches into an ice water bath and allow to sit for a few minutes.

  Using a paring knife (I use my fingers), pull on the skin at an "x" and the peels should come right off.
• If adding the ginger and spices, prep those and set aside.

For the jam:

• Mash (or use the pulse feature on a food processor) the peeled peaches, to yield 8 cups.
• Add the prepared fruit into a large pot, and add the sugar. Bring to a gentle boil, and slowly add the pectin.
• Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, ginger and spices (if using) and vanilla (or vanilla bean seeds).
• Allow the jam to come to a rolling boil, can take about 10 minutes. TIP: I know when the jam has thickened enough when it coats the back of a spoon. I like to freeze a few spoons, to better test this theory.
• Once the jam is thick, turn off the heat. Carefully spoon the jam into sterilized jars, leaving about 1/4″ head space. Add a lid and band and tighten– but don’t over tighten.
• I like to water can the filled jars, by placing them into a canning rack, and bring to a boil for about ten minutes. Remove, carefully, with tongs onto a baking sheet with a fresh towel.
• Listen for the “ping” as each can self-seals.
• Enjoy this jam with fresh scones or homemade bread. Delicious!

Notes

Pomona Universal Pectin can be used, which requires less or no sugar
If using Pomona Pectin, sugar can be decreased to 3-4 cups

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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