Friends, this is not exactly the recipe I promised for today. I do have a batch of peach vanilla jam in the hopper, but I missed my photography window (I spent most of the day in the kitchen clearing out all my pending canning projects) and so it will hold for another moment.
Still, there’s another recipe I’ve been meaning to share. It’s a batch of honey-sweetened white peach jam with strips of lemon zest that I made for Food52. It’s a really light, lovely preserve. The white peaches melt into the honey (choose a mellow one) and the ribbons of zest give you little bursts of tang and texture. Make sure that you don’t skimp on the lemon juice, as it helps keep this preserve safe for canning.
You can read the entirety of the blog post here and this link will take you straight to the recipe.
Mmmm, that looks and sounds so good! My dad was a USDA fruit inspector for many years, and at many packing sheds he worked at, he had the freedom to bring home culls. I well remember the day when he came home from inspecting with a new fruit – white peaches! We were all amazed and delighted!
Beautiful! This is going on my list.
I have a question about your spiced plum butter from last year. I know it’s low-sugar enough that it is likely not to last long after opening. Would it be dangerous to reduce the sugar further? I tend to like really tart jams and would prefer to use no more than a cup of sugar with the three pounds of plums that I have.
It’s not dangerous to reduce the sugar, but it could shorten the shelf life of the butter.
you had me at honey. and peaches 🙂
Marissa, I was tempted to purchase an asparagus steamer (fourth burner pot) the other day. But I vaguely recall that when you use yours, you use the fancy jars; is that correct? can regular jars be used? And what do you use to separate the jars in this pot? Trivets of some kind? Thanks, I know I’d really can more if I had the smaller pot but before I buy I want to be sure I have the right tools.
I use the asparagus steamer for a stack of three Elite half pints, two regular wide mouth jars, or one pint jar. I don’t put anything in between them to separate. When I stack them, I make sure to make the second jar off-center, so that it’s not sitting directly on the lid of the first jar.
Would two regular mouth half-pint jars fit? Thanks!
The yellow one I have (from one of the links on that post, don’t remember the brand name) is just a little too short for two regular mouth half-pint jars. I’ve used it for experimental canning (say, a single jar of pickled fennel stalks) and, more often, without the basket so I can insert at an angle a rack for jar lids. (When I’ve had just the one jar, I’ve just heated some water in a cereal bowl in the microwave, and then dropped the single lid in it.)
Can you freeze these jams instead of canning them?
Yes. That’s always an option. Just make sure to leave plenty of room for expansion.
Love your posts as usual.
Just made this, absolutely delicious!!!
I made the recipe “Nectarine Jam with Lemon Verbena and Honey” from Preserving by the Pint. That recipe seems similar to this online recipe. I assumed that the recipe in the book was open to either yellow or white nectarines, so I used white ones. Now I am worried that the white nectarines without added lemon juice lack the acidity necessary to prevent botulism. What do you think? Thanks so much.
I just read your section on “Canning 101,” which answered my question: White nectarines require added acid. It might be helpful for the recipe to specify what type of peaches or nectarines are needed. Thank you again.