Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: Farm Stand Peach Freezer Jam
Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking
This painting, “Path to the Beach”, is by Charleston artist John Carroll Doyle.
Remember the days when folks sat out on front porches after dinner, greeted neighbors and simply passed away the hours before sleep with quiet conversation? They didn’t bring out their Blackberry or their iPhone or answer dozens of emails. They just sat in their rocking chairs and talked. It’s a quality of life I believe we’ve lost to a world of electronics and flashing screens. Maybe it’s the same for canning things. While the front porch people have mostly left us, my guess is that many of the women who wore floral aprons and canned summer’s produce are now sitting in front of walls of wired components.
Every summer I bring home baskets of summertime fresh peaches, blueberries, strawberries or whatever happens to be in season at the farmers’ market. There’s so much goodness packed into these few months, that the desire to stretch these delicious fruits into the colder months ahead is always on my mind.
Perhaps I should stash some of summer away in jars filled with my own jams and jellies and master the art of preserving. Each year I think about standing over a hot stove sterilizing jars and it’s overwhelming. What if I did something wrong and all the jars explode in the heat? The “what-ifs” have kept me mired in doubt while each summer passed by along with all its wonderful fruits and vegetables. When winter came along, I always regretted my fear of canning and started planning to conquer the fear when summer rolled around. Well, it never happened.
But I have broken through my preserving paranoia just enough so that I can take a small step along the road to heat-processed canning. I put away my Blackberry long enough to discover freezer jam.
Making freezer jam follows the same process as heat canning, with one primary thing missing – the heat. Since you store freezer jam below zero degrees, you don’t need to bring the jars to a boil. What a relief to find out we can enjoy making our own jam without the element of danger that goes along with sterilization and storing at room temperature.
Besides helping my canning phobia, I discovered there was another benefit to not boiling your jam. Uncooked fruit stays much fresher than cooked preserves. When you crack open your treasure in mid-December, it will taste more like the fresh summer fruit you picked up from the farmers’ market. There are a few brands of pectin that require that you use boiling water in the initial step on the stove, but isn’t enough to affect the flavor or texture of your fruit.
Pectin is the fruit derived gel that holds jam together and creates a thick consistency. It’s important to buy a brand of pectin that is compatible with no cook freezer jam. Read the instructions carefully, as recipes can vary from brand to brand. Different kinds of pectin call for different amounts of sugar. Freezer jams always run a little thinner than heat processed preserves, but they should still set to a nice, spreadable consistency. If you prefer a thicker jam, just heat the fruit to a boil for two minutes before freezing.
This recipe yields 4 pint jars of freezer jam.
Peach Freezer Jam
2¾ cups finely chopped, peeled and pitted ripe peaches
6½ cups sugar (I use superfine)
2 pouches Sure Jell Liquid Pectin
½ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and cut into small piecesCombine the peaches and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sugar should be nearly dissolved. In a separate bowl combine the pectin and lemon juice. Stir the pectin mixture into the peach-sugar mixture and stir constantly until the sugar no longer is grainy and is nearly completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Add the almond extract and the vanilla bean seeds and stir to combine. Spoon the jam into clean ½ pint or pint size jars. Place one piece of vanilla bean inside of each jar. Cover the jars and let stand at room temperature until the jam is set, up to 24 hours. Place the jam in the freezer and use as needed. Freezer jam should be consumed within 1 year. Jam may also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Pat Branning, the former women’s editor for WSB, Atlanta, is food editor for The Beaufort Tribune. She and her husband, Cloide, work together to help the underserved and uninsured in health care through a nonprofit organization called Wellness4America. Her new book of Lowcountry recipes, “Shrimp, Collards and Grits, recipes from the creeks and gardens of the South Carolina Lowcountry”, is available at bookstores in Beaufort and on Hilton Head. The website is www.mycarolinacooking.com.
Click here for more information about Pat Branning’s new cookbook.
Related posts:
- Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: From farm to feast
- Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: It’s just peachy in South Carolina
- Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: Summer survival with Seared Scallop Salad
- Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: Red, White and Blueberry
- Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: Hunting Island Flank Steak
