Blueberry Peach Jam

Before I get into making jam, I just want to put a plug in for my favorite canning book of all time. It is called Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt. At the beginning of the book she explains all about making jam. Several things that surprised me when I first looked at it. First off, you NEVER double a jam recipe. The reason is all about surface area. If you double a recipe, it will not be able to reduce enough and then your jam will never set up. Second, the way my mom sealed a jar by turning it upside down is no longer considered safe. All jams need to go through a water bath canning process to kill all traces of botulism (if any).

The book lists all the equipment you need and explains why it is important. Also, what I think is the best part of the book, you know all the recipes are good because they are all competition winners.

Okay, now for the fun part. This recipe started from a recipe from Blue Ribbon Preserves and then morphed as I discovered what ingredients I had (this is not always a good idea. My uncle was trying to make my grandpa's famous carrot cake once and he realized he didn't have flour so he exchanged it for sugar, he realized he didn't have cinnamon so he just used red pepper. Long story short, it didn't turn out).

Blackberry Peach Jam (adapted from Peach Melba Jam)
makes 7 half pint jars

3 cups peeled, pitted and crushed ripe peaches
3 Tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
7 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup crushed and seeded blackberry pulp
1/2 tsp unsalted butter
1 (3-ounce) pouch liquid pectin

In an 8-quart pan, combine the peaches and lemon juice. Stir in about half of the sugar. Cover the pan and let stand for 20 minutes.

Remove the cover. Stir in the blackberry pulp, remaining sugar and the butter. Over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, heat the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and skim off the foam.

Return the pan to the heat and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

To prevent the jam from separating in the jars, allow the jam to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the jam every minute or so to distribute the fruit. Ladle the hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

I mentioned that I made changes. I only had 2 1/2 cups of crushed peaches, since I didn't have enough, I modified the amount of blackberries to make up for it so I used 1 1/2 cups blackberries. Also, I am lazy so I did not seed the blackberries. I like to think of my jam as rustic.