Peach/*Raspberry Jam with Jello
7 cups well ripened peaches, cut in small pieces
2 packages frozen raspberries (two 8 oz. pkgs) or 2 cups of fresh raspberries
10 cups sugar
2 packages raspberry jello (two 3 oz. pkgs)
It makes approximately 12 cups.
The instructions, below, are not really complicated--I've just included a lot of commentary!
Put peaches, raspberries and sugar into large kettle. Bring to a gentle boil and cook about twenty minutes, mashing fruit to the consistency you like. I have used a potato masher and/or an electric hand blender. It depends on the ripeness of the fruit and how smooth you like your jam.
You need to be diligent about stirring, particularly once it starts to gently boil, to make sure it doesn't scorch. Let it boil gently for 20 minutes. The cooking time doesn't have to be exact and it is while it is boiling that I am mashing the fruit so it doesn't seem like I'm just standing there for 20 minutes stirring.
Remove from the heat and add the jello. Stir until the jello is dissolved. In this last batch, I used sugar-free jello. Yes, I know it seems almost ridiculous to scrimp on sugar at that point but hey! I was worried that perhaps the sugar-free jello would lack some magical element and the jello would fail but things turned out just fine. I think it must be the gelatin that does its magic and the extra sugar is irrelevant, which is what got me thinking about the rest of the sugar in the recipe. I really think you could use probably 9 cups instead of 10 (making it an even 50/50 ratio) or even 8 cups but I haven't tried it. Maybe I will next time. That is one thing about pectin jam recipes; the proportions are more like 5-6 cups of fruit and 4 cups of sugar. Who knows if that would work here. I have always thought of this a little like candy making with the sugar as an important component.
Put into sterilized jars and seal. If you've made jam before, you know that you have the jars in a pan with water and you've been "boiling" those jars while you're doing your project. You don't really have to simultaneously boil your lids and/or rings but some people do.
The extension service and pectin recipes advise processing the bottled jam for 10 minutes to preserve them. In the olden days, the idea was that the sugar WAS the preservative and this processing was not done. My husband insists that it be processed so I do it, but let's face it--jam with a more than 50/50 ratio of sugar to fruit (not including the jello's sugar) is fairly well preserved in the first place.
Processing is done by putting the bottled jam into a kettle (usually with a wire holder for the bottles) and covering the bottles with at least 1 to 2 inches of water over the bottles. You cover and bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove the bottles from the "bath" and let them cool. Then you have jam to eat or store or just look at.
You can use fresh or frozen fruit. You can add strawberries in place of the raspberries or in any combination. With strawberries, use strawberry flavored jello; with raspberry, use raspberry flavored jello. In the pint pictured above, I used strawberries and added raspberry jello just because the strawberries were on sale and the sugar-free raspberry jello was in my cupboard. Actually, you could use the peaches and any kind of jello you like and your "peach" jam would taste like the jello flavor. I may have to try this sometime. Then, there would be no seeds and no extra expense of the berries! I have made Pear/Llime Jello Jam before on the same principle. My mother made it once when I was a kid and I loved it. So last year, I tried to recreate it. As with some childhood memories revisited in adulthood, I was disappointed--it tasted too much like candy for my taste.
Besides tasting good, there are four things I like about this recipe. (1) You have raspberry (or strawberry) flavored jam without so many seeds and without the extra processing time for jelly. (2) It is a nice use for peaches if you have a big harvest and we do have several trees. (3) The jello jam does not set up as firmly as pectin jam. I dislike jam that is solid and has to be troweled on bread. (4) This jam process is not as "hectic" :0) as I find pectin recipes to be.
Well, now that you know all I know about Peach/Raspberry Jam with Jello, I will go have some with my eggs and toast. Bye!
2 comments:
I didn't realize that jam needed to be processed! That may explain the mold on my daughter's jam (6 out of 7 jars). Very distressing after all that work.
Oh how I wish we lived closer together. This is far too complicated for my woefully limited culinary skills. Looks so yummy, though!
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