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    Home » Recipes » Pickling and Canning

    Peach Jam

    Published: Mar 31, 2023

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    Homemade Peach Jam is fantastic, but the usual canning process can be an ordeal. This Small Batch Peach Jam makes a single jar, no canning - or liquid pectin - required!

    Originally published August 26, 2020. Updated on 3/31/2023

    Close up photo of a chunky, orange coloured jam

    Sometimes, I am in the mood for jam. Not often, mind you, as I don’t regularly eat bread anymore... but sometimes.

    Last year, it was as we were picking cherries in a local orchard. The craving hit, we got home, and I banged out a single jar of beautiful cherry jam with calamansi juice. Ooooh, it was good!

    The thing is, the timing of “I’m craving jam” doesn’t always coincide with “I have the spoons to dedicate to a full day of canning jam”.

    Luckily, small batch jams are a thing. In this case, I came up with a Small Batch Peach Jam recipe.

    Oh, that fresh peach jam it hit the spot... and only took about an hour to make! This makes one jam jar worth of delicious peach jam, which should last 3 weeks in the fridge - the perfect recipe size for us.

    And really... more fruits are coming in season - pears and apples - so only having a small amount of delicious jam frees us up to add MORE “small amounts” of different jams, as we go!

    I've got a few small-batch jam recipes up now: Small Batch Cherry Jam,
    Small Batch Blueberry Jam, and Small Batch Mango Peach Jam.

    I love spreading toast with a small amount of cream cheese, and topping it with one of these jams. SO good!

    Anyway, let’s talk about making this Small Batch Peach Jam, specifically.

    A slice of toast spread with chunky peach jam.

    Ingredients

    Before we get going with my easy peach jam recipe, I’d like to discuss the (very few) ingredients. You only need 4 simple ingredients, easily found in most grocery stores:

    Fresh Peaches

    I use fresh fruit for this recipe, as peaches are plentiful at the local farmers' market, when it’s peach season.

    Use fresh freestone peaches, as ripe as you can get them. You want them ripe enough that they’re a royal pain to use a vegetable peeler on.

    Overripe peaches are better than under ripe peaches - you get far more fresh peach flavor from the really ripe ones.

    If they’re REALLY ripe, sometimes you can just pick the skins off, with no preparation.

    Otherwise, you can blanch them.

    Blanching Peaches for Peeling

    Cut a small “X” in the peach skin, for each peach you’re looking to blanch.

    Carefully drop them in a pot of boiling water for 15 seconds, or until you can see the skin peeling back from the cut marks.

    Remove from the boiling water, dump them in a large bowl of ice and cold water for 30 seconds.

    Use your fingers to peel the skin off the peaches.

    To be honest, I usually just use the vegetable peeler and curse while I make a mess. Your mileage may vary 🙂

    Either way, I really do recommend removing the skins for this jam, as leaving the skins on gives it a weird texture and doesn’t look as nice.

    A jar of chunky peach jam, next to a small bowl of the jam.

    Sugar

    Use plain white granulated sugar for this - other varieties of sugar will overpower the peach flavour, IMHO. Also, I don’t like the way it looks when you use brown sugar - just not as appetizing.

    Honey

    I like honey with peaches, and I like the flavour that a little bit of honey brings to this jam. It’s subtle, but nice. If you don’t want to use honey, just replace it with the same amount of sugar.

    Lemon Juice

    The lemon juice is necessary for flavour and texture. Lemon is pretty standard / “neutral”, but feel free to use the juice of whatever citrus fruit you like.

    I’ll usually use calamansi juice, and regular fresh lime juice also goes really well with peaches.

    Pectin

    LOL just kidding. I made this recipe for the times when I just want a bit of jam, and don’t want the whole home food preservation ordeal that tends to accompany jam making

    Making jam can be a bit of a hassel, to be honest, and I wanted this nice and simple.

    Some fruit has a lot of pectin, so you can just rely on the fruit pectin and added acid to react with the sugar and gel up normally.

    Peaches don’t have a ton of natural pectin, however, so this is less about it gelling up like a jam, and more about cooking it down to a thick syrup-solid.

    It’s almost like making a caramel, but you’re not actually caramelizing/ browning the sugars.

    A bit different from normal jam making, but it does produce actual jam... without fussing with trying to measure out a small amount of pectin from a container meant to be used all at once.

    "Close up photo of a chunky, orange coloured jam

    How to Make Peach Jam

    The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through.

    Peel and pit the peaches, chop into small pieces, or run through a food processor.

    Add peaches, sugar, honey, and lemon juice to a medium pot, bring to a full boil over medium heat or medium-high heat, stirring frequently.

    A 5 part image showing the chopped peaches, the honey, lemon juice, and sugar in a pot, and everything mixed together.

    Once mixture is boiling, turn heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

    As the peaches soften, mash them a bit with a potato masher, or whirl an immersion blender through them.

    A 5 part image showing various stages of the peach jam cooking, the fruit breaking down and the mixture thickening.

    Personally, I like a bit of texture - not pureed, and not TOO chunky - almost bordering on homemade peach preserves, sometimes!

    If you’d like, you can use a stick blender / immersion blender to smooth it out a bit - this is good for fruit that takes its time to break down, like the out-of-season peaches I used here.

    A 2 part image showing a stick blender being used to process the mixture smooth.

    At the 30 minute mark, start testing for thickness.

    Run a spoon through the mixture - if it leaves a visible “wake” for a second or so, it’s thick enough to let the jam set.

    For best results, don’t overcook it! You can always re-boil an undercooked mixture, but overcooked peach jam = solid

    A 2 part image showing a wooden spoon being used to drag a wake on the bottom of the pan.

    Once your jam is thick enough - it can take 45 minutes or more, heads up - remove from the heat.

    Use a clean funnel, and ladle the hot jam into a clean jam jar.

    Note: I like to wash jam jars and 2-piece lids in the dish washer before making the jam. While you don’t need sterilized jars for refrigerator jam, you still want to start with an airtight container that’s as clean as you can get it!

    A 2 part image showing the jam being poured into a jar, using a blue funnel.

    Use a wet paper towel to wipe the top of the jar, and affix a clean jam lid and ring.

    Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge, use within 3 weeks.

    A jar of chunky peach jam, next to a small bowl of the jam.

    Canning Homemade Jam

    While I specifically designed this recipe to NOT need canning ... if you want to do a bigger batch, you’ll want to actually can the jam. This will give it a longer shelf life.

    Here’s what you’ll want to do, to take this from a refrigerator jam, to a properly canned jam:

    1. Buy new jar lids - just the flat pieces. You shouldn’t reuse those for actual canning, but you CAN reuse the half-pint jars and the rings.

    2. Actually sterilize / sanitize your canning jars, lids, rings, funnel, and ladle. You can do this with heat - in a dishwasher - or you can use a chemical sanitizer, like Star-San .

    This is something you should have on hand if you’re into brewing Homemade wine.

    3. Once you’ve got everything sanitized / sterilized, wash your hands well, and be careful not to touch anything in areas that will touch the food - the underside of the jar lids, the inside or rims of the jars, etc.

    4. As you’re making the jam, get a large pot of water boiling. If you have a water bath canner, use that.

    Either way, the boiling water canner should be wide enough to accommodate all the jam jars you’re going to use, and have enough water in it to cover the canning jars by about 1" when they’re in there.

    A Caveat

    FYI: This recipe makes 1 jar. If you triple the recipe, you’d need 3 jars... on paper.

    As each batch may have slightly more - depending on how big your peaches are - I recommend adding an extra jar. 4 jars for a triple batch, 5 for a quadruple batch, etc.

    You may not end up using that extra one, but it’s a lot easier - and less annoying - to prepare that extra jar/lid/etc in the batch, than to find yourself short one or more sterile jars, when you need it!

    4. After you’ve made the jam - and it’s still boiling hot - carefully use your sanitized items to ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars.

    5. Use a wet paper towel to wipe any jam off the lip of the jars. You might want to make a second pass, to be sure. This is important for the seal, and for food safety.

    6. Immediately affix the lids, tighten the rings, and carefully place jars in the pot of boiling water. Allow them to boil for 10 minutes.

    Note: The United States Department of Agriculture recommends adding 5 minutes processing time for altitudes above 1,000 feet; add 10 minutes for altitudes over 6,000 feet.

    7. Carefully use a jar lifter to remove each hot jar from the water.

    Note: I like this set for canning. Everything you need, in one cheap package!

    8. Allow to cool overnight. I like to carefully remove the rings - without disturbing the lids - to allow it to dry out between the jar/ring. This prevents rusting.

    9. The next day, check all lids for a proper seal: they should have sucked down into a vacuum seal as the jars of peach jam have cooled. Screw bands on tight.

    10. Store properly sealed jars in a cool, dark place for later use; refrigerate any jars of jam that did not seal for use in the coming weeks.

    Close up photo of a small jar of orange coloured jam next to a piece of toast

    Looking for More Peach Recipes?

    Got a bountiful harvest to take advantage of? I’ve got you covered! Here are few favorite ways to cook with peaches, or type “peach” into the search field on my site to find even more!

    Balsamic Peach Bruschetta
    Blackberry Peach Popsicles
    Boozy Raspberry-Peach Bread Pudding
    Fresh Peach Daiquiri Recipe
    Fresh Peach Salsa
    Fuzzy Peach Candy Cocktail
    Grilled Halloumi Salad
    Grilled Peaches with Lime Honey
    Homemade Peach Wine Recipe
    One Pan Balsamic Chicken with Peaches
    Peach Cobbler Muffins
    Peachy Southern Comfort Cheesecake
    Rosemary Peach Balsamic Scones
    Small Batch Mango Peach Jam
    Southern Comfort Peaches N Cream Popsicles
    Southern Comfort Peach Pie
    Spicy Southern Comfort Glazed Chicken with Grilled Peaches

    Close up photo of a small jar of orange coloured jam next to a piece of toast

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    Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and/or a comment below, and maybe even sharing this post on social media!

    Close up photo of a small jar of orange coloured jam next to a piece of toast

    Close up photo of a small jar of orange coloured jam next to a piece of toast
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    4.91 from 21 votes

    Small Batch Peach Jam

    Peach Jam is fantastic, but canning can be an ordeal. This Small Batch Peach Jam makes a single jar, no canning required!
    Prep Time5 minutes mins
    Cook Time45 minutes mins
    Total Time50 minutes mins
    Course: Breakfast, Condiment
    Cuisine: American
    Servings: 12 - one 8 oz Jam Jar
    Calories: 85kcal
    Author: Marie Porter

    Equipment

    • 8 oz jam jar

    Ingredients

    • 3 large Fresh peaches
    • ¾ cup Granulated sugar
    • ¼ cup Honey
    • 1 tablespoon Lemon juice

    Instructions

    • Peel and pit the peaches, chop into small pieces.
    • Add peaches, sugar, honey, and lemon juice to a medium pot, bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently.
    • Once mixture is boiling, turn heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
    • As the peaches soften, mash them a bit with a potato masher. I like a bit of texture - not pureed, and not TOO chunky.
    • At the 30 minute mark, start testing for thickness. Run a spoon through the mixture - if it leaves a visible “wake” for a second or two, it’s thick enough. Don’t overcook it!
    • Once your jam is thick enough - it can take 45 minutes or more, heads up - remove from the heat.
    • Use a clean funnel, and ladle the hot jam into a clean jam jar.
    • Use a wet paper towel to wipe the top edge of the jar, and affix a clean jam lid and ring.
    • Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge.
    • Use within 3 weeks

    Nutrition

    Calories: 85kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 75mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 122IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Fanny

      July 10, 2021 at 1:36 pm

      Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for. Bought fresh peaches at the farmers market. Looks very similar to a recipe my grandma used that I'm no longer able to find. Turned out delicious, so good I'm making a double batch to go with some fresh vanilla ice cream.

      Reply
      • DeAnn S Caylor

        May 21, 2023 at 2:43 pm

        5 stars
        Howdy from Austin! I make a LOT of jams and preserves but I enjoyed this piece and I occasionally find myself with small quantities of ripening precious fruit and my farmer husband loves his fruit spreads. I also love small batch preserves for gifting and flavor experimentation. I learned something YESTERDAY that I want to share. I'm making peach jam this weekend and came across another's post instructing the inclusion of entire lemons during the cooking process as they contain significant natural pectin. I juiced my lemons, removed the seeds then tossed the entire lemon skins in the jam pot. I cooked the juice poured off the fruit -really juicy peaches, never would have set without a ton of additional sugar and pectin - until it reduced considerably with the lemons which softened and took on the most beautiful color. They look delicious and I plan to taste them. Added the fruit, simmered a bit, canned. Preserves are perfect.

        Reply
    2. Jade

      July 25, 2021 at 4:21 pm

      5 stars
      Nice and simple. Love the taste with a hint of honey!

      Reply
    3. Steve

      August 10, 2021 at 8:16 am

      5 stars
      Made this yesterday. Used just 3/4 cup sugar. Absolutely delicious.😋

      Reply
    4. Diana Rios

      October 29, 2022 at 8:32 pm

      5 stars
      Want to make some for a friend who just had surgery but peaches aren't in season. About how many cups or ounces of frozen fruit should l use?

      Reply
      • Marie Porter

        October 30, 2022 at 5:41 am

        About 2 1/2 cups chopped, closer to 3 if sliced.

        Reply
    5. Susan

      September 08, 2024 at 11:49 am

      5 stars
      Hello, I just made this with some big local peaches (3) and tried it. Really really delicious! Thank you : )

      Reply
    4.91 from 21 votes (16 ratings without comment)

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