Honey Spice Peaches

This is one of our favorite recipes for peaches. The honey really is amazing and then the spices... so good! I got the boys all helping me skin the peaches after blanching them so they ended up a little more mangled than if I had done them myself, but, hey, they eat them, too!

 

Honey Spice Peaches

8 lbs. freestone peaches

4 c. water

1 c. sugar

2 c. honey

whole cloves

cinnamon sticks

OK, before you start anything else, blanch the peaches. This entails a large pot of boiling water. Add the peaches a few at a time - not so many they are not covered with water. Let them sit in the water for one minutes, then remove and place in an ice water bath (a large bowl full of water and ice). This stops the cooking process - you don't want to cook the peaches, just get the skins off. Let them sit for a minute then you should be able to rub the skin a bit and it comes right off.  Once the skin is off, slice each peach in half and remove the pit. Slice into eighths and set aside. Do this for all the peaches. 

In another large pot, add the water, sugar, and honey. Stir and heat. Once it is hot (does not need to boil), add in some of the peaches. Let them heat, but don't wait until they are cooked. They should heat 2-3 minutes. remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and pack into prepared** jars. Fill them up almost all the way, then add 3-4 whole cloves and a cinnamon stick. Finish packing to the top. Shake the jar a little to get the peaches to settle. The jars will hold a lot of peaches! Fill the jar with some of the syrup to 1/4 inch from the top, cover with a lid and screw band, and process in a water bath canner for 30 minutes. Repeat until all the peaches have been used to fill the jars (we eat any partial jars).

**Prepared jars means they have been washed and heated. I put mine in the dishwasher to wash, use heated dry, and take them out to use while still hot. Everything needs to be hot - jars, lids, fruit, canner. 

Honey Vanilla Peach Butter

My kids love various butters we can make from fruit. We have done apple butter from time to time and peach butter. I'm not always convinced it's worth all the effort, but they love it so I make it sometimes. This one is a favorite!

 

Honey Vanilla Peach Butter

18 peaches, smashed up

2 1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. honey

1 Tbsp. vanilla

In a large pot cook the peaches, sugar, honey, and vanilla until the peaches are soft. Use a blender to blend in batches until smooth. You can use a hand blender for this if you have one. At this point you can cook the peaches two ways. Option 1: Continue to cook on the stove until the water is boiled out and the peaches mound on a spoon. This will likely take hours. Option 2: As you blend the peaches in batches, pour the blended peaches into a crock pot and cook on low overnight with the lid off. They should be ready to can by morning. Once the peaches are as thick as you want them to be, ladle into canning jars and process 20 minutes in a water bath canner.

Peach Jam

Some more jam we've been working on. The boys had a bit of a disappointment this morning, but trying out all the peach recipes we are canning helped to perk them up again. We love our canning recipes!

 

Peach Jam

4 c. peaches, smashed up or cut into small chunks

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. butter

1 box Sure Jell

5 1/2 c. sugar

Place peaches, lemon juice, butter, and Sure Jell in a large pot and heat to boiling.  Add the sugar all at once and return to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute. Put in prepared canning jars and process 20 minutes in a water bath canner.

Blueberry Jam

Nothing is better than fresh jam made from fresh fruit. We all love blueberries, too! So good!

 

Blueberry Jam

6 c. blueberries

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

4 c. sugar

1 box Sure Jell

1 tsp. butter

Crush the blueberries making sure there are still chucks of berry. Measure to get 4 cups of crushed fruit. Add to a large saucepan with the lemon juice, butter, and Sure Jell. Heat over medium high, stirring constantly, until boiling. Add is sugar all at once. Continue to stir and return to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and ladle into jars, leaving 1/4 inch at the top. Process 15 minutes.

Hawaiian Punch Jelly

My mom canned when I was young. I remember picking fruit in the house at 510 Main Street in Clearfield, Utah (which has since been torn down) that belonged to my great-grandparents, built by my great-grandpa, I believe. I remember the cherries the most - mostly because I had to help pit them with this cool pitter thing my parents bought. You loaded cherries in one part, then slide down, you pushed the handle, and out came the pit! So cool to an 8 year old! I remember my mom canning all the fruit and making jam. My most vivid memory is of one day when she ran out of sugar and sent me across the street to the grocery store to get her some more. Well, it was a big, busy street and I was scared to death to cross it. I must have, but I really only remember being scared to cross the street.

When I was in high school I used to go to my friend Mary's house to hang out and her mom made jam. But she didn't just make jam and put it in canning jars - she did cool things to it. Like put it in wine glasses and cover it with whipped parafin wax with a straw so it looked cool. I never put it in anything besides canning jars myself, but she made canning seem cool to me and this is a recipe I got from her. Thanks Connie Beals! My family has declared this jelly to be the best jelly ever.

 

Hawaiian Punch Jelly

3 1/2 c. Hawaiian Punch

6 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 box Sure Jell

1 tsp. butter

6 1/2 c. sugar

In a large pot, heat the punch, lemon juice, Sure Jell, and butter. Cook to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar all at once and begin stirring again. Heat again to a rolling boil, boil one minute. Remove from heat and ladle into prepared jars. Process jam for 15 minutes. Enjoy! Makes about 7 cups of jelly.

Peach Jam

We love homemade jam so when peaches went on sale really heap here I had to buy some to make jam. I got up this morning to make it with lots of cheering from the boys. All of them wandered in and out of the kitchen to see what I was making and to express their delight with peach jam. I conscripted #3 to help me out with some stirring and offered to teach him how to make jam so he could make it himself one day. He declined the offer, but offered to let me make it for him when he no longer lived at home - and offered me $50 a jar! Score and sold! Now I have to hope he remembers this offer!

 

Peach Jam

4 c. peeled, chopped peaches

2 Tbsp. lemon juice 

5 1/2 c. sugar

1 box (1.75 oz) Sure Jell

I blanch the peaches to peel them. It's much easier and faster than trying to use a peeler. To blanch peaches: boil a pot of water and add your peaches. Boil them for 30-45 seconds, then plunge them immediately into an ice bath (a bowl of ice water). This stops them from cooking. Once the peaches are cool enough to touch, rub them and the skins slide right off. You can then pit and chop them.

Measure out 4 cups of peeled, chopped peaches and put into a large pot. Add the lemon juice and Sure-Jell, stirring constantly over medium-high heat. Measure the sugar into a bowl and have it ready. When the jam comes to a rolling boil (doesn't stop when stirred), add the sugar all at once and stir. Continue to stir constantly until the jam returns to a rolling boil and boil for one minute. Ladle into prepared HOT jars, cover with a hot rubber lid, screw on the screw band, and process for 15 minutes. If you want or need a more detailed description of my canning process, including the jar preparation, you can find it here. This recipe made 3 pint jars for me.

***For spiced peach jam, add about 1 tsp. of a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to the fruit before boiling. 

Strawberry Banana Jam

This was my second batch of jam for the year all from the strawberries we picked a few days ago. We always seem to have bananas that are getting over ripe so this was another way for me to use them and not waste them. I hate wasting food!

 

Strawberry Banana Jam

1 box Sure Jell

3 1/4 c. crushed strawberries

1 1/2 c. smashed bananas - the way you would use for banana bread

6 3/4 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. lemon juice

This is pretty much the same as my strawberry jam, which is here.

This is something of a process. You will need to wash your jars, I use pint sized jars most of the time for my jam and this recipe made 4 jars plus about 1/2 jar that we ate immediately. You can also use the smaller jars and plan on 9 of those. I put the jars and screw bands in my dishwasher and let it run on quick wash and heated dry. The jars need to be HOT! Put your lids (with the rubber) in a small pan on the stove and boil. Start your canner heating. I use a steam bath canner, not a water canner. My jars are never submerged. Either works fine. Use what you have.

While all this is happening... It's time to get to the fruit. I wait to start that until the dishwasher has just began the heated dry cycle. Crush the strawberries and measure out 3 1/4 cups into a large saucepan. Do the same to get 1 1/2 c. banana and add it to the pan. Turn the heat on to high and stir in the Sure Jell and lemon juice. Stir constantly. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for one minute. Add the sugar all at once - it's helpful to have it measured into a bowl so you can just pour it in. Stir and break up any sugar clumps. Bring to a rolling boil again and boil for one minute. 

So now you need your hot jars. Make sure they are hot. Bring them to the jam and pour into the jars using a funnel. Fill to within 1/4 inch of the top of the jar. Wipe off the lip and neck of the jar so there is no spilled jam there. Add the lids, then the screw bands. Finger tighten the screw bands. Put in canner and process 10-15 minutes. Remove carefully! I really recommend buying a canning kit that comes with a magnet to remove the lids from the hot water and a tool to move the hot jars from the canner. Put the hot jars on a towel to let them drain and dry. Leave them alone for 24 hours, then store in a cool place. 

If your jam does not set you can reprocess it. I don't bother. We use it as pancake and waffle syrup.

 

Strawberry Jam

We try to go to a u-pick place each year and pick strawberries. Then I turn them into yummy things like pie and jam and so forth. Here is how I make my strawberry jam. I also freeze a bunch of strawberries and will use them when I make applesauce in the fall, turning it into strawberry applesauce. Yum! And it looks pretty when it is pink.

 

Strawberry Jam

1 box Sure Jell

5 c. crushed strawberries

7 c. sugar

1 tsp. butter

This is something of a process. You will need to wash your jars, I use pint sized jars most of the time for my jam and this recipe made 5 jars. You can also use the smaller jars and plan on 9 or 10 of those. I put the jars and screw bands in my dishwasher and let it run on quick wash and heated dry. The jars need to be HOT! Put your lids (with the rubber) in a small pan on the stove and boil. Start your canner heating. I use a steam bath canner, not a water canner. My jars are never submerged. Either works fine. Use what you have.

While all this is happening... It's time to get to the fruit. I wait to start that until the dishwasher has just began the heated dry cycle. Crush the strawberries and measure out 5 cups into a large saucepan. Turn the heat on to high and stir in the Sure Jell and butter. Stir constantly. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for one minutes. Add the sugar all at once - it's helpful to have it measured into a bowl so you can just pour it in. Stir and break up any sugar clumps. Bring to a rolling boil again and boil for one minute. 

So now you need your hot jars. Make sure they are hot. Bring them to the jam and pour into the jars using a funnel. Fill to within 1/4 inch of the top of the jar. Wipe off the lip and neck of the jar so there is no spilled jam there. Add the lids, then the screw bands. Finger tighten the screw bands. Put in canner and process 10-15 minutes. Remove carefully! I really recommend buying a canning kit that comes with a magnet to remove the lids from the hot water and a tool to move the hot jars from the canner. Put the hot jars on a towel to let them drain and dry. Leave them alone for 24 hours, then store in a cool place. 

If your jam does not set you can reprocess it. I don't bother. We use it as pancake and waffle syrup.