Peach Jam

YELLOW PEACH JAM: Ah, here we are at midnight again... I cut up 2 gallons of peaches and have made peach jam. This time, I did take the skins off, so had a pot of water boiling in front of the bigger pot for the peaches, and the peaches on a big commercial baking sheet on the edge of the sink with the cutting board and cutting bowl in the middle. For 2 hours, I listened to the Olympics and had 5-6 peaches in the hot water, skinned, pitted and mashed or chopped the others. I put the hot peaches under cold water and on the side of the tray nearest me.

Then, I let the whole pot simmer while I pressed a bag full of lemons from Regan's tree -- I got 3 cups of juice which I need for jelly and for spanakopita (among other things!). I strained the fruit and divided it -- 8 cups in each pot, reserving 8 cups of juice. I ended up putting about 1.5 c of juice back into the fruit after adding the pectin, lemon and sugar.

Before going to bed, simmered the juice I strained from the pulp with some dried chipotle peppers and am going to let it steep overnight for a smoky peach chipotle jelly. No pictures, and I hope to make it to the 5:45 swim tomorrow... I'll never make it to the Olympics, unless it is the preserving Olympics!

YIELD:
14 - 12 oz
1 - 4 oz