Strawberry, Peach and Strawberry-Peach Jams...

'Tis the season.... 

Yesterday I bought

5 1/2 pounds of eastern peaches and

6 pounds of strawberries

I want to show you how easy this whole process is!

I've been making jams & jellies since I was in

high school. Jams, jellies and pickles were the first things

I learned how to can! You can do this...

 From this.... 

Fresh Strawberries &

Fresh Peaches  (forgot to take a picture)

Minus a few of each for fresh eating...

 To this.... water bathing the 8 oz jars

And, finally this....

8 pints of strawberry-peach jam

8 pints of peach jam

18 pints of strawberry jam (only 9 pictured)

HARDWARE YOU WILL NEED:
Large cooking pot (mine is 6 quart)
wooden spoon or heavy stirring spoon
ladle (I use a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup)
a large cereal bowl with hot water for the lids
8-9 eight ounce Ball Jelly jars with lids & rings
Large cooking pot to use as a water bath (9 qt. stock pot will work)

The recipes I used came from the book Saving the Seasons
(How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything)

STRAWBERRY JAM

5 Cups crushed strawberries (washed, stemmed & cut up)
1 Box  Powdered Pectin
7 Cups sugar
1/2 tsp. butter (optional... I leave this out)

Put the strawberries in a large cooking pot and stir in the pectin.
Measure out the sugar and put it into a separate bowl.
Bring the strawberries to a full roaring boil (STIRRING CONSTANTLY!)

Stir in the sugar and stir in quickly, returning to a full boil and boil for
1 minute (STIRRING CONSTANTLY!) Remove from heat and
skim foam off the surface of jam. Ladle quickly into clean jars,
leaving 1/4 inch of head space.

 Tighten lids and process for
10 minutes in a boiling bath. Makes 8-9 half pints.

To make the peach jam you'll follow the directions above but
make the
ingredient changes to the following:

PEACH JAM
4 Cups peaches (washed, peeled & diced)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Box pectin
5 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon butter (optional)

Cooking method & water bath method is the same as above.

STRAWBERRY-PEACH JAM

I had 2 cups left over cut up peaches
so I added 2 cups of strawberries and then
followed the peach jam recipe & water bath!!

It turned out VERY TASTY!!

Ahhh, it feels good to be canning again!

I'm sharing this on Simple Lives Thursday!
Go check out the other awesome ideas
everyone is sharing from across
the globe!

FYI: The difference between jams & jellies is that jams use the whole
fruit and it is included in the jar where jellies only use the juices of the fruits!

Check for yourself next time you
are in the stores....strawberry jam vs. apple jelly 
(you can see through the apple jelly!)