Jammin'

This past week I made peach jam and apricot preserves. I watched my mother make these often enough as a kid but never did it myself. Last year I asked Mom how to make freezer jam, and gave it a go with some farmers' market peaches, but it turned out a soupy mess so I threw it away.

This year I vowed to get it right. i checked out a few recipes on line, plus a couple in some vintage cookbooks (like the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, which I got a whole set of for 25 cents apiece at a used bookstore in Sherman, NY this summer).

I knew I wanted to make jam with lots of chunks of fruit, not too sweet. I didn't use pectin in the peach jam, but I did dump half a package of the powdered kind in the apricots. I'm told you have to use a lot of sugar if you use pectin, and I didn't use a lot of sugar, so we'll see how that goes. Used lemon juice in both. The jar lids all sealed properly. If they don't 'set' then I guess I'll have some slightly runny jam and preserves that will still taste awesome on my toast.