Hey, Peach. You’re looking mighty fine this summer day. Why don’t you and some of your gorgeous friends come on over?
No no, don’t worry. We’ll just take a little dip, bathe in some sugar and maybe some spices to tingle the senses. It won’t hurt a bit. Trust me. Oh, these jars here? They’re nothing. Just hanging out. Now, let yourself melt in that heat…
So maybe sometimes I talk to my produce before smooshing the heck out of it for jam. Come on, it’s summer. The heat might be getting to my head. Or I’m just smitten with these juicy globes.
How have you not made peach jam yet? Here in Texas, the harvest has been amazing thanks to all the extra rain we’ve had. People always talk about Georgia peaches, but we have some damn fine peaches too! And freezer jam – it’s absolutely the easiest jam you’ll make. You don’t have to worry about pectin or jar lid sealing or vats of hot water. Just cook, cool, and freeze. Simply summer all year long. It’ll remind you of that time you went skinny dipping in the moonlight. Or not. It might just be jam.
- 2 pounds peaches
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- Pit and dice peaches (peel if you want; this can be quickly done by submerging the peaches in boiling water for a minute or two, then dunking in ice water and the peels will slip right off) and toss them along with sugar and spice into a large pot, such as a dutch oven.
- Heat until the peaches start to break down a little, then get out a potato masher and mash up the peaches a bit.
- Continue to cook (and mash, if desired) until jam reaches desired consistency.
- Pour into freezer jars and screw on lids. When cool, label and stick in the freezer until ready to use.
For more preserving inspiration, check out my Canning, Preserves, & Pickles board on Pinterest!
Follow Megan Myers | Stetted’s board Canning, Preserves, & Pickles on Pinterest.
ooh la la! Hey, where’d you get your freezer jars?
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Megan Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 9:19 am
@Kate, I got them at HEB! Surprisingly they have all sizes jars, lids, etc.
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Kate Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 9:31 am
@Megan, thanks! Oh, and one more thing, what brand are they? Yet another reason I can’t wait to move back to TX in December 🙂
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nancy Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
@kate, I seen them at our local Walmart 🙂
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Do you have any success making freezer jam with honey? I’d love to use some of my peaches for this….
Cheers,
B
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Megan Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
@Bethany,
Honey should work just fine for this, because you are cooking the jam. You just need the honey to dissolve, which is what you’d be doing with regular sugar anyway!
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Sounds great! Have you made this with the peels on? If so is it good?
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Megan Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@Darla,
I take the peels off because I think peach peel is kind of gross 😉 Plus because this is a freezer jam you don’t need the added pectin the peel brings.
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This looks yummy, and oh so simple! Must give it a try. I’ve been playing with my peaches for a couple weeks but still have some left for some more experimenting. Thanks for sharing this.
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I’m mentally rearranging the contents of my freezer to see if I can squeeze in a few jars of this beautifulness… we’ve had a really gorgeous harvest of peaches up here in Ontario, too, so I’m buying peaches up as fast as we can eat them. 🙂
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I’ve been telling everyone that as well! The Texas peaches this summer are soo much better than Georgia peaches and I know this for fact because I just moved from GA to TX! This jam looks great.. I have those lil jars too.. they’re great!
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The only thing I would add/modify is that you should wait for the jam to cool *before* putting it in the freezer containers. Hot foods can leach chemicals (possibly BPA, although Ball claims their containers are BPA free) from the plastic. This jam is a HUGE pick-me-up in January!
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Megan Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
@Kim,
The main problem with this is that when jam cools, it thickens and gets really sticky, and it will/could become a great mess in your pot!
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i’ve always wanted to do something like this…yummy.
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