This honey-sweetened all-peach freezer jam is a delicious way to enjoy the fresh, sweet flavors of summer anytime of year! Not only is it great on top of a hot-outta-the-oven biscuit, but you can also use it to make your own homemade fruit-on-the-bottom peach yogurt, and as the base for a delicious barbecue glaze for Sweet-n-Spicy Grilled Chicken.
Peaches won’t be in season much longer, so why not store-up some delicious peach flavor to last you all year long! All it takes is a few simple ingredients and a little bit of time to create your own homemade all-fruit preserves.
Ingredients
- 6 medium-to-large fresh, ripe organic peaches
- 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup pure honey (I prefer sage honey due to its mild flavor)
- Pomona's Universal Pectin
(see *note below)
Instructions
- Peel and cut the peaches into quarters, discarding pits. (See **note below for peach peeling tip.)
- Place peach quarters into a food processor and pulse to coarsely chop to desired consistency, or you can mash by hand using a potato masher. (I prefer my preserves to have some small bits of fruit pieces.)
- Measure out 4 cups of mashed peaches and place into a saucepan. (Save any leftover mashed peaches for adding as a topping to yogurt, oatmeal, ice cream, etc.) Add lemon juice, vanilla extract and 4 tsp of calcium water (see *note below). Stir well to combine.
- Next, in a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup of honey with 2 1/2 tsp of Pomona's pectin powder and stir well to thoroughly combine. Set aside.
- Heat saucepan containing peach mixture over medium-high heat, bringing the mixture to a full boil, while stirring frequently. Boil for one minute while continuing to stir frequently. Then, slowly drizzle in the honey-pectin mixture, stirring vigorously for 1-2 minutes to combine, making sure the mixture returns to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Use a ladle to divide the jam among five 8-ounce canning jars, leaving at least 1/4 inch of space between the top of the jam and the top of the jar (this space allows the jam to expand as it freezes).
- Cover with lids and let the jam stand at room temperature until cool. (Jam will thicken as it cools.)
- Then refrigerate up to three weeks, or freeze for up to one year. (Defrost frozen jam in the refrigerator.)
Notes
*Pomona's Universal Pectin
To get started making jam, you'll first need to follow the directions on the package to make calcium water. It's super easy (just mix the calcium powder with water). It can be stored in your frig for several months, allowing you to make many different kinds of homemade jam. Once you have the calcium water prepared, you're ready to make homemade peach preserves (as well as other delicious all-fruit spreads)!
With your box of Pomona's pectin, you'll receive a little packet full of jam recipes. Personally, I've found that a few of the recipes call for too much pectin, which makes the jam really jell-up. Since I prefer my jam to be a bit looser, not so jelly-like, I use less pectin. The set also depends on the type of fruit, as well as the volume of fruit used and how chunky or smooth your fruit puree is. So I recommend making a half-batch of a recipe and see how it sets-up and if you like the set. Then you can go from there adding less or more pectin. Happy jam making!
** A quick and easy way to peel peaches: Bring a stockpot of water to a rolling boil. Add whole peaches and cook for one minute. Remove peaches from boiling water, using tongs, and place in a cold water bath. Once cooled to touch, peel off skins.
Hi can you use frozen peaches for this ?? Thanks , I’ve loved all the recipes I’ve made from your site! Keep me coming!
Yes, Thaw first for best results. Thanks for your kind words! So glad you’re enjoying this site! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been looking for a non-white sugar jam recipe and this was perfect. I used the Pomona’s Pectin which worked very easily and quickly. Yummy raspberry and BlackBerry jam in the freezer.
Yay! So glad you had fun making jam, Sarah! Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note! Blessings, Kelly ::
Are there any jam recipes using gelatin? trying to get more great lakes gelatin in our diets and wondering what the difference in outcome is. Gelatin vs pectin.
Hi, Kristy. I haven’t used gelatin in jam because my understanding is gelatin tends to result in a more Jello-like consistency, whereas pectin results in a more jam or jelly-like consistency. So in the case of jams and preserves, it seems based on what I’ve read that most chefs recommend using pectin for best results. I do have a powdered pectin free jam recipe you may be interested in. It uses cranberries as a natural source of pectin and is quite delicious. As for what to do to get more gelatin in your diet, fruit juice jello bites with gelatin would allow you to get far more gelatin in a single serving than it would by using it in jam. Hope this helps! Blessings, Kelly
• How to Make Honey-Sweetened Preserves without Powdered Pectin: http://thenourishinghome.com/2014/03/honey-sweetened-fruit-preserves/
Can you double or triple this recipe or will the pectin have issues setting? Thanks!
Hi, Karissa. Your excellent question led me to do a little research and here is what I found. There are a couple reasons why it may not be a good idea to double or triple jam recipes. Rather than rewrite their thoughts, I’ve included the articles for you so you can determine the best way to proceed. Hope this helps! Blessings, Kelly
• Doubling increases cooking time required: http://foodinjars.com/2011/01/canning-101-why-you-shouldnt-double-batches-of-jam/
• Problem with increasing the cooking time is that when you cook pectin for too long, it will break down and won’t gel correctly: http://www.finecooking.com/item/11278/double-or-nothing-jam
• Pomona Pectin’s response on how to double a jam recipe using their product: http://www.pomonapectin.com/faq/can-i-double-or-triple-a-pomonas-cooked-recipe-are-there-any-potential-limits-or-pitfalls-when-doubling-or-tripling-a-recipe/
Thank you so much for such a thorough and prompt response! I think I’m going to attempt to double the recipe with Pomona’s since I have a large enough canner and other stockpots and a strong enough oven to handle this. I’ll let you know how it goes!
You are very welcome. Look forward to hearing back from you! 🙂
This turned out perfectly! I doubled the batch and got 12 half pints of jam that jelled just beautifully. I also did Pomona’s recipe for maple vanilla peach jam and doubled that as well and it turned out beautifully with 11 half pints of jam. Thank you for your advice!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy your jam making went beautifully! Thanks for taking the time to let us know how it turned out! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Sadness… I just took the last jar of peach preserves from the freezer today to make your Sweet-n Spicy crockpot chicken. My family ADORES this jam and this momma loves that it is only with honey 🙂
Made this recipe when you first posted it (and every summer thereafter) and have always doubled the ingredients but kept cooking time listed for single recipe; great results each time. Thank you for another nourishing, delicious recipe!
Aww, you are so sweet, Kari! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a kind note. I’m so happy you all enjoy this recipe too! It’s one of my personal favorites ways to enjoy summer peaches all year long! Appreciate your encouragement! Hugs to you, Kelly xo
Hi Kelly–Can I follow this recipe and process this in a canner instead of freezing?
Thanks!
Noelle
Yes, you can. This will can well using safe canning protocols. 🙂 https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/home_canning.html
I do not have any of the Pomonas Universal Pectin (it wasn’t at the store when I went), but I do have Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. Would that work in this recipe???
Yes, that should work just fine! 🙂 enjoy!