Fiber Fool

I’ve already gone on about the benefits of canning your own preserves when I talked about my plum butter adventures of a few weeks ago. This Tuesday I had to get serious about dealing with our box of peaches. Several had odd spots that when they first arrived just looked like imperfections in the skin from some sort of trauma during their growing season. But, it ended up that they rather quickly were turning to bruises and moldy spots. I really should have canned on Saturday or Sunday, but there was just too much going on this weekend. I hastily made room to put about 7 of our 20+ pounds into the fridge before we left for the wedding Sunday morning and sadly threw out about half a dozen that were beyond saving.

I made three different kinds of preserves on Tuesday, totaling 24 cups! First up is a lower sugar raspberry peach jam. The organic raspberries were the same price as the conventional so I splurged on two boxes and mixed them with some of the peaches for a jam that I’m betting will be fabulous in our favorite tea cake!

I’ve tried lower sugar preserves before and had problems with them over-setting. Encouraged by my friend Laurie’s success I decided to give it another go. This time with an easier to use low-sugar pectin than I have used in the past. It set quite well. Almost on the edge of being overset in my opinion, but stirring it up broke it up and made it easily spreadable so I’m calling it good. Having about half the sugar of the inspiration recipe on TastyKitchen, the fruit really takes center stage and tastes fresher, brighter and truer. Frankly, it is plenty sweet as it is and I can’t quite imagine it with twice the sugar.

Low-Sugar Raspberry Peach Jam

Makes about 8 Cups

Ingredients

• 12 oz Raspberries
• 2 lbs Peaches (approx 4-5 medium)
• 1 Box Low or No Sugar Pectin
• 1/2 Tablespoon Butter (optional, to reduce foaming)
• 3 1/2 Cups Sugar

Directions
1. Blanch, peel, pit and chop peaches.
2. Using a potato masher, mash half of the raspberries at a time in a large bowl. If you prefer seedless jam, run them through a food mill.
3. Add peaches to raspberries and puree as desired. We like our jam hearty so we leave some rather large chunks of peaches, but you want to puree some though to release some of the natural pectin. I find it easier to get a good mix of puree and chunks if I use the immersion blender. You should have 4 1/2 cups of pureed fruit.
4. Cook according to the directions for your pectin. For my Sur-Jell you mix 1/4 cup of the sugar with the pectin in a separate bowl, then add the mix to the fruit and stir. Add butter, if using. Cook over high heat until a rolling bowl is achieved (it still bubbles while stirring). Then quickly add remainder of sugar and return to boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
5. Ladle hot jam into warm canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Make sure top of jar is clean, place lid on top and screw the band on until finger tight. Place in canning rack suspended over hot water bath. Once all the jars are filled lower into hot water. Be certain there is 1-2″ of water over the top of the jars and process in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes (sea level) plus any adjustment required for your altitude.
6. Remove jars from hot water bath and place on a towel on the counter and let sit without moving or touching them for 24 hours.
7. Check to make sure all jars sealed, then remove the rings and store in a cool, dark place.

Here in Fort Collins (~5000 ft above sea level) I need to process jams for 20 minutes. If you do not know if you need to adjust your processing time, check with your local Extension office. If you know your altitude there are adjustments on the sheet in the package of pectin, in the Ball Blue Book or here.

Borrowing a page from Cindy, here is today’s this week’s soundtrack. I was first introduced to this song via a two-disk mixed CD Chris made me, called Fiber Foolish, when she came to visit and attend the Estes Park Wool Market. Let’s have a hand for Greg Brown…