Peach & Yellow Plum Jam.....my Farmer's Market Triumph!

I am very fortunate to live next to a diverse & thriving Farmers Market. The Wychwood Barns Farmers Market is a busy  neighbourhood hub for all of us in the Bathurst & St. Clair neighbourhood of Toronto. Any given Saturday you can find musicians, bakers, coffee roasters, honey producers, & the local Capoeira club out enjoying the day. Interesting & chatty sellers, overpriced prepared food & "Naturalist Hipster Types" are embedded in with the regular families & folks of the area. Go through the whole market first because there is good & bad here. I enjoy going once in a while, but not often because some of the sellers are really out of whack with their produce pricing. My favourite farmers are the folks from Honey Pie Hives & Herbals. You have to get their Cinnamon Creamed Honey...it's to die for.

This week I got a grand haul of Niagara Freestone Peaches & Yellow Plums. Enough to make 2 batches of the jam I make best. My Peach & Yellow Plum Jam is the only thing I produce that is actually for sale among friends & family. (I usually make 2 or 3 batches because of the high demand.) Also because for me, it is a breath of summer in the dead of winter. I will give you a basic recipe to work from, so you can experiment with flavours & preserve the summer in your kitchen.

Basic Ingredients:

- 4 cups of blanched & chopped peaches & yellow plums (It's a good idea to run them through a food processor or blender to get the consistency correct)

- Bernardin Low Sugar Powdered Pectin (or apples if you want to go that route)

- 3.5 cups of sugar (Granulated works best)

- 2 tbsp of lemon juice (Works as a natural preservative)

Directions:

1. Drain the fruit juice & transfer to a saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid & then return to the fruit.

2. Add your pectin in with your sugar with a fork. This will help it to incorporate into your fruit easier.

3. Place the fruit in a stock pot over medium high heat & add your sugar, lemon juice & pectin.

4. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat & stir constantly. This takes about 10 min to get to a rolling boil & then a 1 minute boil at peak. STIR CONSTANTLY TO PREVENT BURNING!

5. Remove from heat & skim off any foam.

6. Check for your Jell at this point. I leave a bowl in the freezer & drop a bit of jam into it. I leave it in the freezer for about a minute. Then I take it out & tip the bowl on it's side. The jam should not move. (Keep in mind it should not be as thick as Jello either... if it is, you have added more pectin than required)

7. Ladle the jam into hot prepared canning jars. Leave 1/4" of head space in every jar. Remove air bubbles before lidding & canning your jam. Remember jar rings should be fingertip tight.

8. Place sealed jars back into your canner & ensure they are completely covered with water. Boil & process for 10 minutes.

9. Remove & let sit for 24 hrs to cool down & seal. You will know they have sealed because the lids will make a *POP*. If not, check with your finger after 1 hr to make sure the lid doesn't move. If it is, you need to get your jam into the fridge right away because it hasn't sealed properly.

Enjoy your golden summer jam! 

(As a reminder...all links are in Yellow. Click it to visit the awesome folks I am referring to in my Blog)