Summer Fruit Fall Jam

Michael and I went to Colorado in the beginning of August to visit some friends and check out a door to door organic delivery company they have called Mile High Organics. Something we were really struck by was that our friend Brian has this beautiful range of things he has pickled, jarred, jammed, you name it. When we went to stay with another friend, he was so kind to give us a delicious jar of Colorado cherry jam, and I realized there is just something really beautiful about preserving a specific taste that you can use throughout the year. Many of the fruits of the summer are coming to an end, and it is a perfect time to preserve them before they disappear. Just think, when it gets cold and you are drinking your tea, you can enjoy some of this jam and re-experience those wonderful tastes of summer.

What we recently learned is the difference between jelly, jam, and preserves. We made jams and preserves because I want to honor the fruit in its entirety and incorporate as much of it as we can.

Jelly: The fruit comes in the form of fruit juice.
Jam: The fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp of crushed fruit.
Preserve: The fruit comes in the form of chunks in a syrup or jam.

We made strawberry jam, peach jam, nectarine brandy preserve, and cherry almond preserve. Along with the recipe, we also included below a few suggestions of how to use each of these. At the end of the recipes we included the Ball canning link where you can follow the proper instructions of how to can things, otherwise your food will not properly preserve. So be sure to check out.

Ingredients:

Strawberry jam:
2 Lb strawberries
1 ½ cup sugar

Peach jam:
2 Lbs. peaches
1 ¼ cup sugar

Nectarine Brandy preserve:
2 Lbs nectarine
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup brandy

Cherry Almond preserve:
4 cups cherries
1 large lemon
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown
1 tsp. almond extract

Strawberry jam (as photographed) is amazingly good with rosemary thyme bread, a little blue cheese, or and stinky cheese and a slab of jam.

Peach jam is delightful with a simple high tea spread with some scones.

This nectarine preserve makes a great base in a nectarine tart. Place in the tart shell, and under the fruit. Yum.

Of course cherry preserve is always a favorite of ours in between cake layers. A classic, and never failing.

Strawberry Jam:
Cut the green off of your strawberries and chop in half, and crush half of your mix of strawberries. In a large sauce pan pour all the strawberries and sugar and heat to a boil on a medium heat. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until the mix starts to thicken while stirring every minute or so.

Peach jam:
We leave the skin on the peaches because it adds a nice texture, so simply pit and chop the peaches. Place the peaches and sugar in a sauce pan and on medium heat bring to a boil. Using a masher, mash up the peaches as they start to soften, stir every few minutes for about 10- 15 minutes as the mix thickens.

Nectarine Brandy preserve:
Leave the skin on the nectarine, pit, and chop. In a sauce pan bring the nectarine and brandy to a boil over medium heat. Add half of the sugar mixture, and stir. Let nectarines soften and using your masher, mash them. Add the other half of the sugar, and stir. This preserve takes a bit to thicken up, so you will need to cook it for about 20 minutes, and may need to skim off some foam.

Cherry Almond preserve:
De-pit and chop half of the cherries, leaving the other half as intact as possible. Cook the cherries on a medium high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir and add all the other ingredients, and stir for about 20 minutes until the mix thickens.

Now that you have made all of your preserves be sure to follow all the steps to proper canning because nothing would suck more than all your hard work going to waste!!! Enjoy this for the months to come!!

http://www.freshpreserving.com/Libraries/Homepage_and_FreshTools_Guides/StepByStepHighAcid.sflb.ashx