Blushing Peach Jam

My clean stove all prepared for an evening's work!

As much as I've tried to ignore it...fall is here.  Which means...canning!  Well, that and getting ready for winter.  I've already made one batch of jelly so far this season (it was a Cranberry Cider Jelly and super yummy) so I figured I'd make the tried and true:  Blushing Peach Jam.  This was the first canning recipe I tried and it has yet to let me down!  (Even if it gets requested by folks so often that it is the first one I run out of!)  Here is a link to the recipe.  The version I use is in a cookbook from the 70's, but it is the exact same recipe!

Jars ready for canning in all their goodness ;)

I guess I should give a little current event background news.  A really dear friend of ours was recently in a climbing accident and since we really are endeared to our injured friend's brother and his brother's girlfriend as well, we've been trying to step in and help where we can (without being bug-a-boos).  So, originally, Mike was going to help take pictures and learn to make the jam, but something came up and I flew solo on this post and project.  (This gave me plenty of fun stories to share though, so you'll all enjoy it!)  To be honest though, I wonder if the reason behind his sudden interest in canning is because I let him use my canning pot (under the condition that he scrubbed it clean after he was done) to make his beer in.

Changing the trash bag?

So, I bet y'all are wondering why there is a picture of a dollar tree bag standing in for a normal trash bag.  Well, when Mike first left (and I was getting prepped to start), I noticed the trash was at that full enough to be taken out but could probably have a little more squeezed in.  I decided to help him out and take it out.  I was extremely proud of myself (okay, it was more because I had the opportunity to help him with something that he normally takes care of before I can ask) until I realized that I have NO idea where he stores the trash bags.  I looked under the sink, high and low, in cabinets, on shelves, every possible place I could think of to look for these things.  Finally, I resign and find myself a Dollar Tree bag (see, that would be why ;) ) and struggle another few minutes to secure it to the trash can.  As soon as I stand up to look my work over one final time, guess what I see?

The super secret trash bag hiding spot!

It would seem that the ideal place to store trash bags is behind the trash can.  How I didn't see those until after I had struggled to make the little dollar tree bag stay without ripping, I'll never know, but it did make for a fun start!  So, I started my project!  The first thing I did was rinse and sort my raspberries.  I was lucky enough that I found them on sale for $0.99 a pint (what a steal!) but that did mean that some of them were starting to show signs of getting ready to be bad.

My raspberries before "crushing" them.

Raspberry slush.

I know I ended up sorting out a little less than a pint due to their deteriorating condition, but at that price, who am I to complain?  It really does stink to just toss away money like that, but I would rather toss out some raspberries that may have been fine than to make someone sick.  I sorted them (after washing them) directly into my little...tool.  I have no idea what the correct term for it is.  It can turn things into a slush as well as has a mandolin attachment I can use (I don't normally since I have the big one).

Doesn't it do an amazing job?  It's hand powered too!  (By hand powered I mean that I have to turn a crank, but it really isn't that difficult :) )  It's very easily one of the coolest hand me downs my mother in law has given me yet!  After you get your raspberries all ground up, you do your peaches.  Normally canning recipes with peaches will have you treat the peaches to keep them from darkening.  It isn't really necessary here (since you'll be cooking squishing them and the raspberry color is going to drown out the peach color anyways) but if it's something you really want to do, I don't see why you couldn't!  Now, I made a video for you all of how I like to peel peaches for this and for sliced canned peaches.  I do still run on when I get nervous.  I also did my best to try and stay in the camera's view range, so I apologize if it's hard to see.  I had the camera propped up in my dish rack while filming this so I could have use of my hands.  At least it's better quality than last time?  Anywho, all of the warnings (not directly related to my bathroom) for the last video apply here.  One day I will hopefully not dislike myself on film (picture or video) as much, but for now, it's an impressive feat that I filmed this!  After I got my peaches sliced, peeled, and crushed, I added them on top of the raspberries in the pan!

Ahh, the beauty of canning.  Look at those colors!

I almost wish there was someway to preserve the two separate colors when canning.    It's just so purdy!  Well, I added in the rest of my ingredients (minus the almond extract you add in at the end) and got it a cooking.  The tricky thing about this recipe is the timing.  You get you future jam all mixed up and boiling, boil it for one minute, then take it off the heat to add the pectin.  As soon as the pectin is in, back onto the heat for another quick one minute of boiling time.  I tend to struggle with wanting cooking things to go exactly as planned or instructed as the case may be.  It was as I turned on the burner under my peaches and raspberry mix that I fully realized what Mike borrowing my phone meant.  He took my kitchen timer!  Thankfully, I was able to make a mad dash (I'm not sure why I was so panicked the exact minute I turned the burner on.  I knew it was going to take it a bit to really warm up, but I was really worried that I had forgotten this crucial component.)  into the office to grab my pocket watch necklace so I could time the cooking time.  It was here that I decided to do a final set up sweep (getting everything in place for the actual putting the stuff in the jars and any other steps.  My kitchen is slightly small, so I have to arrange things in steps.) and discovered that I had forgotten another important item in my gathering!

Just keep cooking...cooking...cooking...

I made another hectic dash (dodging the now curious dogs along the way.) back into the office to retrieve a pair of scissors.  Now, in my defense, this is the only canning recipe I use that uses liquid pectin instead of the powder form.  I guess I should also note that Luclin (our older Maine Coon cat who has recently become a slight bit of an outside/inside kitty) was meowing at the top of his lungs outside of the kitchen window the entire time I was canning.  I swear I wasn't being mean to him!  As I was getting everything laid out, I tried to get him to come in several times when he meowed at me through the window.  Each time he came running to the back door (for some reason, he hardly ever leaves the backyard when he does go out and then it's only to come and greet us out front) and then jumped on the porch railing (I'm not really sure if counts as a porch to be honest....it's a very small wooden square platform at the top of some steps that lead to another larger wooden platform) and cooed (you know that half purring half meowing that cats sometimes do) at me to pick him up and carry him in.  Normally this isn't a problem, but I was was in cooking mode with my apron on and he knows the apron means no loving on any pets until it's off.  I tend to be extremely defensive of my apron when I'm cooking.  I won't hug Mike, I won't sit down, I do everything  I can to keep it clean so I don't get anything on my food.

All eight half pints of finished jam.  Isn't it pretty?

After repeating this cycle with Luclin four or five times, I told him that this was his last chance to come in before I started cooking and if he didn't that he would have to wait for me to finish.  He didn't.  Of course.  Instead, he chose to very vocally complain that I would choose to make food over adoring him.  Well, back to the jam adventure.  After my jam had done it's initial one minute boil, I quickly grabbed the pot and moved it to sit on a pot holder near the sink (you have to remove it from heat) to add the pectin.  In my hurry, I kicked the pet water bowl that was sitting there (the nice big one they all choose to ignore for the little tiny thing I originally put out just for when I locked up the puppy when we left the house that I now end up refilling non stop during the day) and made a moderate mess.  I continued with my quest of adding the pectin quickly figuring I could grab a towel as soon as it was back on the burner reheating (I also didn't want to stop and forget that my burner was still on.  Our burners on our stove top take quite a while to reheat so  I cheated and left it turned on.).  Well, while adding the pectin, I completely forgot about the mess.  I moved to put it on the burner and whoop there goes my front foot.  It was only a few seconds, but it felt like time had slowed as I tried to re-grasp my footing before I fell or spilled the still very hot jam on myself.  In the end, I didn't spill a drop and I got it back on the burner no worse for the wear!

Blushing Peach Jam.

I will admit that as soon as that jam was sitting on the burner, I grabbed a towel and took care of my mess.  I actually even wrapped the towel around the base of the bowl so I'd hit the towel before I hit the bowl again. The rest of the canning was pretty uneventful (except for me forgetting to add the almond extract) and the product is amazingly beautiful.  Mike came home when there was about five minutes left on the boiling water bath.  A note to help with making this jam should you decide to try for yourself.  The recipe tells you to skim off the pink foam.  I always forget this step because the pink foam doesn't actually form (or at least in a way you can really skim off easily) until the jam beings to cool (I'm normally three or four jars in).  So, if you want to skim the foam off, wait or watch (I'm normally too focused on not spilling a drop to notice that I've included the foam until it's too late) for it.  Well, I had some other fun projects tonight, but I think that I'll leave those for a scheduled post (finding my little camera again has made me so happy!) .  If you try the recipe, comment and let me know what you think of it!  I personally love the way this jam tastes!  (Well, and this jam helped me to develop a liking for peaches!)