Recipe for Peach Jam

Ingredients: Any kind of fruit or fruits you want (yellow peaches and white peaches were used here), sugar, citrus rind, grapefruit juice

The great thing about jams is that you can uses as much as you want of each ingredient. The steps are all more or less the same.

Starting off, take all the fruit you are using and chop them into small pieces. Remember, the larger the pieces, the chunkier the jam. You can skin the fruit if you want, but you don't have to. In the jam pictured above, I kept the skin.

Also take the citrus rind and scrape off pieces of the white pith . I used a grapefruit for this, but any citrus is fine. You can also use the colored peel if you don't mind adding some of the citrus taste to the jam. Keep going until you have a small pile. The purpose of the rind is to add pectin to the mix. Pectin is a polysaccharide that acts as a thickening or gelling agent in an acidic environment (usually with a pH value of 2.8 to 3.6, hence the grapefruit juice). Sugar will also increase its gelling ability and will thus affect the consistency of the jam. Depending on what kind of fruits you are using, you may not have to use as much rind. Apples, blackberries, and grapes are high in pectin content so they typically only need some sugar to gel, whereas blueberries, strawberries, and our peaches are low in pectin so they need some more help. Store bought pectin can also be used (fun fact, that pectin is typically made with apples) but if you use citruses, be sure to use the rind. Citrus rinds are high in pectin but the rest of the fruit is not.

Place all of the fruit and rind in a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat. Throw in a heavy splash of grapefruit juice. Lemon or lime juice will do just as well, just remember that since they are more acidic (pH of ~2 to grapefruit juice's ~3) you can add a little bit less. I just happened to have grapefruit juice on hand (can you tell I like grapefruits?) so that ended up being what I used.

Once the fruit has reached a boil, bring the heat down to medium. You can now add the sugar. I personally don't like adding a lot of sugar, so I had m only throw in half a small handful of sugar. This will let the natural taste of the peaches shine a bit more while still having enough to help with the gelling process. I recommend taking some time here to taste the mixture as you add the sugar since this will vary by the sourness of the fruits you choose and the amount of fruit used. Add to taste!

Now, just stir occasionally and wait until your jam reaches the desired consistency. I tend to be impatient and will try to crush the fruit to speed it up as I stir, but that's just me. This step can take anywhere from 15 to 45 mins, depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the fruit itself. For example, the yellow peach jam (the more orangey one in the bottom of the jar) will take less time since it's already quite soft, but the crunchy white peach jam will take longer since it's harder. However, once you like the consistency of the fruit and the jam has thickened, you are ready to jar it and leave it to set overnight.

Have fun!
-M