Peach Freezer Jam

Every year there is a man with an RV,who sets up a little fruit stand along the side of the road near our house, and sells the yummiest Elberta peaches.  Last year my daughter Megan and I decided to make peach freezer jam for the first time, and it was a BIG hit.  I was amazed at how fresh the jam really tasted and when we ran out I knew we needed to make some more jam as soon as the peaches were back in season. Well, guess what we saw yesterday...the RV and boxes of beautiful peaches.  If you've never tried preserving fruit, freezer jam is as easy as it gets.  Basically, all you have to do is follow a few simple steps on the back of the Ball instant fruit pectin packet and you'll have fresh tasting peaches all year. I bought my pectin packets at Target.

Elberta peaches are great for several reasons. One of the most important 
is they are a freestone fruit, which means they have an easily removed pit.

A quick five second boiling hot water blanch which helps remove 
the peach skins.It is important to keep this step quick so you 
don't cook the fruit.

After the hot water blanch, place the peaches in an ice water bath.
As you can see in the picture, the skins are basically removing themselves.

Remove the pits, cut into pieces, and then mash.

Next, add sugar, lemon juice, fruit pectin, and stir. Set timer for 
specified time according to directions on pectin packet, ladle jam in jars,
 and then freeze. It's that easy.

Ahhhh...sweet sweet peachy goodness.

One box of peaches gave us eight batches of jam and took about three hours including clean up time.  I recommend starting with just one box worth of peaches at a time, because eight batches of jam takes up a lot of freezer space.