Sigh...I think that this may be the height of my jam making career! :) No, really, I am amazed at how this batch turned out. The flavors are so subtle and complement each other so nicely. I'm pretty sure this one won't happen again, well, at least not exactly. And the bummer is that it only made four and a half jars. Darn. As an undergrad, my painting professor/mentor always told us to not make each piece of art "precious", that more good art will happen if you keep working at it. It is kind of like that with cooking too. Sometimes I really fuss over the food I make and then it turns out fussy. Some of the best surprises happen when I just let go, experiment, and have fun.
It all started with the most perfectly sweet white peaches. Four cups mashed, to be exact. They are at the peak of their season here, and I am hooked. They are free stone too, which made it super easy to prepare. I blanched them, peeled them, pitted them, sliced them in half, and then used a potato masher to mush them down--creating small chunks and juice. They turned into the most beautiful color, a really soft, muted peach, unlike the golden peach you normally see. They were quite sweet on their own, but I wanted to make the jam a bit more exotic, so I brainstormed some flavor combos. We have a lavender patch on the side of our building, so I went and picked a small bunch. I also wanted to warm the flavor up a bit, so I grabbed the pure vanilla extract from the cupboard. To use the lavender, I popped the flower buds of about 4-5 stems and put them in a small pan with a half cup of water. I let it come to a boil, then set it aside to cool. After it cooled I strained it, separating and reserving both the buds and the liquid (in the end I decided to add both). I added about a teaspoon or so of vanilla. And I sweetened with about 3/4 of a cup of agave. The combination of those ingredients was a perfect balance...n'uff said. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that, as usual, I used Pomona's Universal Pectin (which allows you to use either a small amount of sugar, or alternative sweeteners) and the measurements for peach jam inside the box!
My sweet, vintage-kitchen-gadget-collecting-Mom donated these amazing and oh-so-helpful tools to me! Hooray! I definitely burned myself less and had less of a mess to clean up with my new "jar grabbers" and canning funnel!
So pretty.
I am a full fledged jammer these days. I have made more jam in this past year, I tell you. It's crazy! I wanted to make something using fall fruit, as it is readily available here and I am trying to go with the seasons. My next batch will be a persimmon butter--just you wait... Anyway--I found this recipe for pear butter, and it was super easy and had a ton of flavor. I used local, organic Warren pears. Oh, and I added a bunch of vanilla (I think about 2 Tablespoons). If you have the time, I highly recommend you put this one up!
