Vanilla Peach Raspberry Jam

Well, I have never blogged anything before in my life and am a little unsure of beginning now. I have to say that I am a little (ok a lot) obsessed with cooking blogs however, probably because I really LOVE food. Not all food, just really super yummy good food. Not only do I love food, I LOVE to cook. I have been cooking for as long as I remember. My first memories of cooking are sitting as a little girl on my great grandma's kitchen table and helping her make pie dough. Well, more eating her pie dough! I was making meals for my family before I was 10 years old, not because I had to or was even asked to but because I really enjoyed cooking. Cooking is not just a hobby to me, but a love!

I hope to share some of my favorite recipes on here in hopes you'll love them as much as we do!

The end of summer, beginning of fall is prime canning season. This is my 2nd year canning and I would definitely consider myself a newbie at this! Last year my husband's favorite jam was peach. I ended up giving away most of the jars and he was a little sad that we ran out so soon. So this year I bought 36lbs of Palisade peaches and now we have peach jam everywhere (and some peach cobbler too)!

                                                                           Peach Jam

The last batch of the day was going to be peach again but I decided I wanted to spice it up a little so I tossed in some raspberries and vanilla extract with the peaches. It was so delicious! It is perfectly sweet, with a hint of vanilla...I am honestly surprised any of it made it to the canning jars!

                                                            Vanilla Peach Raspberry Jam

I am only going to post the recipe here, so if you are new to canning please see Ball's website for specific info on what materials you need to can and how to get started.

Vanilla Peach Raspberry Jam 

4 1/2  Cups Peaches (skin removed and roughly diced)
2 1/4 Cups Raspberries
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
7 1/2 Tbsp Ball Real Fruit Pectin Low or No Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Water
1 Tbsp Vanilla extract
3/4 Cup Honey or agave (or 1 Cup granulated sugar) 

Makes 10 half pint jars

Place peaches and raspberries in large stock pot. Using a potato masher or large spoon crushed peaches and berries until only very small pieces of fruit remains (it will be very soupy at this point). Then add vanilla, lemon juice, pectin, and water and combine well. Heat over medium heat, stirring often until mixture comes to a hard boil. At this point add sweetener of choice and boil hard for another minute. Remove from heat and carefully ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Carefully place sterilized lids and rings on and process in water bath as directed on Ball Canning's website above. Again, if you are new to canning please see link above to Ball's website- it is very important to use proper technique when preserving food via canning.

Since you are using Low or No sugar pectin this can be made with any kind of sweetener or if you have really ripe, sweet fruit then no added sweetener is needed! If you are not using any sweetener then you will need to increase your peaches to 6 1/2 cups and your raspberries to 3 1/2 cups to get 10 half pint jars. 

Regular jam recipes call for 7 cups of  white sugar! By making your own jam you can control the sweetness and quality of ingredients. 

Good luck and let me know if you give it a try!