A small batch peach jam with vanilla, made without commercial pectin. This recipe will yield only about 2 cups of jam as it’s intended to be refrigerated and used in the short term. The recipe can be doubled, if you’d like to make more and/or properly preserve it for later use. This jam is made without commercial pectin, relying on lemon juice and seeds to provide natural pectin, so it’s never going to be a really firm jam. If you cook it to the correct point though, it will be plenty firm enough.
2lbs.peaches, ripe, fresh, about 8 small peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
2cupswhite sugar
2Tbsp.lemon juice , plus all the lemon seeds from a whole lemon
1Tbsp.vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract
Pinchsalt
2tspbutter, optional, it just suppresses the foaming of the jam
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Instructions
Have the container or jar(s) you’ll be refrigerating your jam in clean, dry and handy.
Prepare peaches and juice a fresh lemon, reserving all the lemon seeds. Place all the seeds from the lemon into a piece of cheesecloth and secure into a pouch with a piece of string.
Place prepared peaches, sugar, vanilla bean paste, 2 Tbsp. of the fresh lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a pat of butter and the pouch of lemon seeds into a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. If you like, you can mash your peaches with a potato masher at this point, to break up any large pieces. Lower heat slightly and continue to cook, stirring regularly, until it reaches the gel point (224° F. on a candy thermometer). This will take around 10 minutes or so. Alternately, if you don’t have a thermometer, you can place a saucer into the freezer when you start preparing your jam. When you want to test if it has reached the gel point, remove from the freezer and place a small puddle of jam onto the cold saucer. With your spoon, push against the middle of the puddle of jam. If it “wrinkles” and leaves a path when you run your spoon through it, it’s ready. If it doesn’t (it’s still liquid, runs back together after running your spoon through it), cook a little longer and test again until it does. REMOVE LEMON SEED POUCH AND DISCARD before putting jam in jars.
Spoon hot jam into prepared jar(s) or container(s). Allow to cool slightly, cover with lids then refrigerate immediately. Jam can also be frozen in freezer jam containers. *Do not store at room temperature unless you have used properly sterilized jars and sealed via a hot water bath.
If you want to preserve your jam for longer storage at room temperature, a hot-water bath sealing method is required to remove any air in the jars and to ensure proper jar sealing.
Notes
Be sure to read the "Cook's Notes" in the original post, where I share some valuable tips, options, substitutions and variations for this recipe!