Vanilla Peach Bourbon Jam

 I am so behind on posting things on my blog.  I don't know if any of you care, but I am having a hard time remembering how I made certain things.  I find the pictures, but I don't always write down the ingredients thinking that "I will remember".  

Wrong.

I need a rememberall (see Harry Potter series for the reference.)

So, I have decided to go from the most recent moving backwards in time.  We'll see how that works.

I am still on my canning kick.  It is summer. Produce is fresh and plentiful.  What can I say?

Ridgefield Organics and Specialties Market http://www.ridgefieldorganics.com has started to sell my jam and jelly. This is so exciting!  It is a small store here in my town of Ridgefield, CT.

Those are my products on the counter.  Too cool. I'm calling them "It's all good - homemade goodies"

Lovely.

This week, I made Vanilla Peach Bourbon Jam.  Peaches are ripe and fragrant. My taste buds are doing a happy dance.

I have had some "questions" and raised eyebrows about my choice to make stuff with alcoholic beverages. *sigh*  Here's the deal - I cook the alcohol out.  Yep.  It is fine for kiddos and Mormons and all.  As a matter of fact, did you know that vanilla extract is, at a minimum, 35% alcohol.  That makes it 70 proof.  Bourbon had 40% alcohol, and I boil it twice.  Wine has between 8% and 20% alcohol, and I boil it at least twice and reduce it.  So, unless you tea totallers are using a vanilla bean in your uncooked frosting, ice cream, pudding, milk, whatever, don't judge.

Done with rant.

Here is my recipe for Vanilla Peach Bourbon Jam.  This made 8 1/2 half pints.

Vanilla Peach Bourbon Jam

3-3 1/2 pounds peaches

3 1/2 cups sugar

2 limes

2 Tablespoons good vanilla extract OR 1 vanilla bean split and scraped (use the seeds)

1/4 cup (1 mini bottle) bourbon

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 box (3 Tablespoons) low sugar pectin

pat of butter (optional)

Prepare your jars, lids, and your hat water bath for canning.

Mix the pectin with 1/2 cup of sugar and set aside.  Mixing it with a little sugar helps prevent it from clumping when you mix it with the fruit.

Juice the limes, you should have about 1/4 cup of lime juice.  Put this in a large pot.

Peel, slice and mash or puree your peaches.  I pureed mine in a food processor because I wanted a smoother jam.  You should have about 5 cups of peaches. A little more or less is fine.

Add the peaches to the lime juice and stir it up.  This will help the peaches from discoloring.

Mix in the pectin.

Bring the peach mixture to a light boil.

Add the bourbon, vanilla, and almond extract and pat of butter (this keeps it from foaming as much).

Bring the mixture to a hard boil - one you can't stir down.

Add the remaining 3 cups of sugar all at once.  Bring the mixture back to a hard boil, stirring frequently.  Once the mixture is at a hard boil, boil for exactly 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Skim off the foam and let your kids eat that with bread as a dip.

Ladle the hot jam into hot jars.  Wipe the rims of the jars and place the hot lids and rings.  Tighten the rings to fingertip tight.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove from the bath and let the jam cool on a towel covered counter.  Listen for the pings of your jars sealing.  If one doesn't ping, put it in the fridge and gobble that one first.