Peach Jam, or Sunset in a Jar

I made peach jam today. Luckily, I had a mini tutorial by one of my friends who is much more seasoned jam and jelly maker than I am. She and I went to college together and she was a physics major, which I am sure helps somehow with this endeavor.

Her top secret recipe was handed down from generations of jam makers. They brought it over from the old country, written on a piece of paper, folded in the bosom of the grandmother's dress. I exaggerate. It actually is the recipe from the inside of the Kraft Foods' Sure-Jell pectin box.


As with any type of cooking, it starts with good ingredients. The peaches are in season down here and these are Loring peaches, I believe. So good.


Chopped and diced four cups of ripe peaches.


Bring to a rolling boil with box of pectin powder. Then add 5 1/2 cups of sugar (not for the faint of heart) and bring to a rolling boil once more and then take off the heat and ladle into clean sterilized jars to within a 1/8 inch of the top. (BTW, I forgot that you can sterilize perfectly well in a dishwasher with a hot rinse cycle. I have apparently blocked out all the sterilization of baby bottles that I used to do.) Seal the jars and then boil again in for 10 minutes and you're good.


We then proceeded to gorge ourselves on homemade biscuits slathered with warm jam and soft butter. For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of that kind of carnage. There might have been some unladylike groaning involved.