Freezer Jam made with Canned Peaches

Peach Freezer Jam

My Tuesday recipe is Freezer Jam.  Today I made peach jam out of canned peaches.  You can use almost any fruit.  The fruit can be fresh, frozen or canned.  Most of the time I make strawberry jam with frozen berries, but today I needed jam (dad has toast every morning with jam) and I was almost out.  Canned peaches were all I had on hand.

Here is the recipe:

2 Large cans (29 oz.) of Peach slices or pieces (drained and chopped to make 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups sugar (can also use a granulated no calorie sweetener)
1 Pkg. (1.59 oz.) of Instant fruit pectin
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice (peaches need lemon juice other fruits do not)

I open the cans and pour the peaches into a colander.  The excess juice must be drained or the jam will be too soupy.  If this happens the result makes an excellent ice cream topping but it won't set enough to call it jam.  While it is draining, I chop the peaches in the colander.  How fine the peaches are chopped depends on how chunky you like your jam.  We like larger pieces.  If you want to use a blender to finely chop the peaches, you can.  Just drain the excess juice and you may need another can of peaches to get the four cups of pulp.

Chopped peaches, bottled lemon juice and my favorite little chopper

Mix together one package of instant pectin and 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  Then add three tablespoons of lemon juice to the chopped peaches and let that sit for about ten minutes.  Slowly add the sugar mixture to the chopped fruit and stir a full three minutes.  Ladle the stirred mixture into clean jars and let it set up for at least thirty minutes.  Now it is ready to use or freeze.  I keep the jar I am using in the refrigerator. 

I also made a fresh loaf of bread today.  We can't wait to cut it and have warm homemade bread and jam.  Maybe I'll even put on some peanut butter and then the jam.  Yummy!