August 27, 2012

Brown Sugar Peach Jam

This tiny batch of jam (1 pint) was an experiment inspired by the Urban Farm Challenge. The month of August focuses on small batches of jam based on your tastes, rather than a recipe. The idea is to encourage your confidence with canning. 

Although I've made plenty of jam, I've never found a recipe that uses brown sugar. Brown sugar isn't the typical sweetener, but my research (after the fact, of course) indicates it can be used.

I discovered also that making a small batch of jam requires much less time than a larger batch as it cooks quite quickly. 

I'm not certain I'll be able to do all the stages of the August challenge because of our impending vacation, but we'll see what happens. If nothing else, I have cute little jars of peachy jam.


Brown Sugar Peach Jam
1 lb. peach slices
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. orange zest
Dash nutmeg
Dash allspice

Roughly puree the peaches, and place in a stainless steel frying pan. Add brown sugar and remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often. Once you can draw a line through the jam that holds for a bit, your jam is jammed. 

Place jam into prepared jars, and can 10 minutes in a hot water bath. Or just place the jam in the fridge for current consumption. Makes 1 pint.


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