Spiced Peach Raspberry Jam

By Sarah Barlow

One goal of mine has been to make and can jam. I’ve made freezer jam before and love it, but canning jam seemed like another level.

I’ve made strawberry freezer jam, peach freezer jam, raspberry freezer jam, even peach raspberry freezer jam. I’ve loved all of them. But as I was planning to can the jam this year, I wanted something special, I wanted the jam to feel and taste cozy. Like the feeling Fall gives me. To hunker down with a warm blanket, chunky sweater, something warm, and a scone covered in jam.

I love peaches and wanted to start with them as a base. But as I looked for recipes, I realized I wanted to add in the pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice). Years ago, I used to get a divine spiced peach jam from Great Harvest (a bakery here in Utah). I thought I would go buy some and try to recreate it in my kitchen. But I couldn’t find it! It was late August/early September when I went so at first I thought I was just too early. But no! They don’t make it anymore!

How disappointing.

So instead, I turned to scouring the internet to try and find any kind of spiced peach jam or spiced jam in general. None of them quite had what I was looking for as a base, so I started thinking through how to create my own with fresh ginger, lemon, and the pumpkin pie spice flavors. My mom, however, found the perfect recipe! It had all the pumpkin spice flavors (including using not only fresh ginger but also crystallized ginger) plus vanilla! We tried out the original recipes then adjusted it to make a more spiced peach jam as well as a spiced raspberry peach jam. Here’s a link to the recipe we adapted who adapted it from this recipe.

The flavors are divine! I will definitely be making this for years to come! Several friends have already told me that it’s the best jam they’ve ever had.

Let’s dive into making the spiced raspberry peach jam. If you want our altered recipe for the spiced peach jam with extra spices, see the notes at the bottom of the recipe

But first, some quick tips and tricks that helped.

Tips & Tricks:

Make sure to blanch the Peaches to remove the skin
Place several spoons in the freezer beforehand to be able to test the thickness of the jam
Waterbath canning for slightly longer than the recipe called for: note I live in Salt Lake City, Utah at high altitude and my understanding is that canning times may need to be adjusted for longer times if at high altitudes.
Have lots of ingredients on hand to make multiple batches because the jam is so good you’ll want to make more!

Prepping the fruit:

Peaches:

If using fresh peaches, the easiest way (I think) to peel them is by blanching them. Blanching peaches is where you get a pot of water steaming or boiling and let peaches sit in the boiling water for about a minute. This makes the skin of the peach super easy to peel off.

Prep a pot of water (I use about a - - qt pot of water that is wider rather than deep) and place on stove at about medium heat.

Once water gets hot, place your peaches in the water. I prefer being able to place about 3–4 peaches in the water. After about a minute (when the water is still warming up, it may take a little longer), remove the peaches and place in a bowl of cold water. Put your next batch of peaches in and while waiting start peeling the already blanched peaches. Cut them in half and remove the seed. I normally then place the peaches in a bowl of cold water with lemon juice so they don’t turn brown while I wait to finish blanching the peaches.

Once all your peaches are done (you will need about 6 cups of peaches which takes about 12 medium sized peaches), blend the peaches in a food processor to the consistency you like. I prefer my peach jam to have more chunks in it so I only process the peaches until I have small chunks. Measure out 6 cups of processed peaches and pour in stock pot that you are using for making the jam.

Raspberries:

With fresh raspberries (making sure the raspberries are not too ripe) put in a strainer or colander and wash. Blot the raspberries with a paper towel to remove excess water. Place in food processor and blend. Once blended, measure out about 3 cups of raspberries. Pour into stock pot with blended peaches.

Note: you will want 9 cups of fruit total. I do about 6 cups of processed peaches and about 3 cups of processed raspberries. But typically I have more like 6.5 cups of peaches and 2.5 cups of raspberries. The raspberry flavor will come out pretty strong even with only 2.5 cups of raspberries so you probably don’t want to add more than 3 cups. If you do decide to add more raspberries than peaches, you will want to adjust the pectin accordingly. I would look on the pectin boxes or google the ratios to figure out how to adjust accordingly.

Prep Add-Ins:

Grate fresh ginger. Dice crystallized ginger. Measure out your spices. And make sure you zest and juice your lemon. I also measure out my pectin and put in a cup at this point and get my vanilla ready to add.

First Stage of Jam: Sugar and Heat

Once the fruit is blended and added to the stock pot, add your sugar. Before placing on the stove, mix the fruit and sugar together until the sugar is mixed in. Then place on stove and turn on heat to about medium low. I typically have my burner at about 2.8-3.4. The fruit and sugar blend will take a bit longer to heat but you won’t have to be stirring it constantly.

Stir occasionally, making sure you are not getting anything stuck on the bottom. In addition, scrape down the sides of the pot occasionally so any sugar/fruit mixture thrown up on the side of the pot doesn’t crystalize.

You want the mixture to get to a boil.

Second Stage: Add-Ons & Thickening

Once the fruit and sugar mixture reaches a boil, spoon some of it into your cup with the measured out pectin. Mix this together in the cup. Once pectin is incorporated, scrape into the pot.

Note: mixing the pectin and small amount of sugar/fruit mixture in a separate cup helps make sure you don’t get globs of pectin in your jam.

Mix in the pectin. Once mixed in, add your lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh ginger, crystalized ginger, spices, and vanilla to the pot. Stir together.

Let the jam boil while stirring frequently (continuing to scrape down the sides). Most people say let boil for about 10-15 minutes until thickened. You can use the frozen spoons to help check thickness.

Tell-tale signs for me of thickening for this jam is based on the foam. There will be some foam that forms on top of the jam. The longer it boils, the more the foam will diminish. Once the foam has diminished and is only covering the edges of the pot, I grab a spoon from the freezer and dip it in the jam. If the jam covers the back of the spoon it should be thick enough to set up well.

Third Stage: Filling Jars

Whether you are canning or freezing this jam, you will want to remove the pot from the heat once it is thick enough. I use glass jars, and if you are as well, make sure they are sterilized and warm. I keep mine in the oven at 200 degrees F until I pull them out to fill with jam.

Pull out the amount of jars you want. This makes about - - - pts. of jam (I like using a mix of pint jars and half-pint jars). Grab a funnel and place over the jar you want to fill. Using a soup serving spoon, ladle, or measuring cup, fill the jar until it reaches about the line where the top of the lid is (you’ll leave about ¼ inch to ½ inch).

Once all the jars are filled, wipe off the top and sides of the jar with a cleaning, wet cloth.

Place sterilized lids on and screw the lid on.

Note: If canning, I do this in batches so I’m only filling the jam that I will be putting in the water bath and then filling the rest once that is done. If freezing, you may want to leave more space so the jars don’t crack when they expand.

Fourth Stage: Canning or Freezing

I won’t go into details on the canning here. I will just mention that I canned the jam using waterbath canning. Because I live in Utah at higher altitudes, I leave mine in a little longer. However, look up what timing and the details that work for where you are. And follow FDA guidelines for canning successfully.

If anything doesn’t seal (you can tell it is sealed by hearing the pop and then not being able to push down on the lid), put it in your fridge and eat.

If freezing, save some in the fridge right away and freeze the rest!

I have not frozen any of my jam, but I think it should last about the same time as any other freezer jam. Just label the jam with the day you made it so you can make sure you keep track.

Fifth Stage: Enjoy!

Next year I want to try blackberry peach jam! But I will definitely be making several batches of this spiced peach raspberry jam.

Note: the recipe calls for a lot of sugar. I haven’t experimented with low-sugar pectin with this recipe but if you want to you can. I will be trying it at a future date and will update the recipe then.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

9 C of Fruit (6 C blended peaches; 3 C blended raspberries)

7 ⅞ C Sugar

Add-Ins:

4 ½ Tb pectin (not low-sugar pectin)

1 ½ lemon juice

1 ½ lemon zest

1 ¼ Tb crystallized ginger

¼ tsp ginger root (fresh ginger) grated

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

⅛ tsp cloves

⅛ tsp allspice

1 ¼ Tb vanilla

Instructions:

Before beginning place 4-5 spoons in freezer.

1. Prep Add-Ins: Measure out pectin into a cup. Zest and juice one and a half lemons and set aside. Grate ⅓ tsp ginger root. Chop crystallized ginger. Measure out nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice and set aside.

2. Prep peaches and raspberries. For peaches, remove skin and seed. Place in food processor and blend to desired consistency (I prefer chunky peach jam). Measure out about 6 cups of blended peaches and add to pot. Measure out about 3 cups of blended raspberries and add to pot.

3. Add granulated sugar to pot with blended fruit and mix together until incorporated.

4. Place on burner at low or low medium heat and stir frequently until brings to a boil.

5. Once fruit and sugar is boiling, spoon some of the hot mixture into the cup with measured out pectin and mix together. Add the slurry into the pot with the rest of the fruit and sugar and stir together.

6. Once pectin is incorporated, stir in the rest of the Add-Ins: add zest and juice of lemons, ginger root and crystallized ginger, spices, and vanilla. Mix together.

7. Let mixture boil for about 10-15 minutes or until the foam is mostly dissipated and is only around the edges of the pot.

8. Test thickness of the jam by using a spoon from the freezer and dipping into the mixture. If the jam coats the back of the spoon it should be thick enough.

9. Once thick enough, remove from heat.

Filling Jars:

1. Sterilize glass jars (I use pint and half-pint size).

2. Warm oven to 200 degrees F and place sterilized jars in the oven.

3. Once jam is thick enough, using a funnel, ladle the jam into the jars, leaving about ⅓ to ½ inch of space at the top.

4. Wipe off any jam that spilled on the lip of the jar or down the sides with a clean, damp cloth.

5. Place sterilized lids on the jars and screw on the caps.

6. Proceed to canning or freezing the jars.

Notes:

If freezing the jars, you may need to leave more headspace in the jars to make sure the jars don’t crack.
If using frozen fruit, either frozen peaches with fresh raspberries or both frozen peaches and raspberries, you will have more liquid. You will still want to blend the fruit in the food processor and then you may need to add more pectin. Just note that if you don’t, your jam may not set up as well.
If you want to make just spiced peach jam, you can use the two recipes that we altered and have linked above. My mom and I prefer more spices so if you want a more spiced peach jam than the other recipes, 1.5x the nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice but keep everything else the same. Note that you will have 8 C fruit of peaches.

Recommended Products:

If you wanted to know what products I used and found helpful I’ve listed them below. Please note that these are not affiliate links.

Pectin: I use Ball’s RealFruit Pectin that comes in a jar. On their website they say where you can find it close to you. I can typically just find it at most grocery stores.

Ball Pectin: RealFruit Pectin

Jars: I prefer using Ball or Kerr. For jam I like the pint but prefer using half pint and then having a mix of cute decorative small jars for gift giving. I always pick mine up at a local store so I’m not sure how the ones on Amazon are.

Ball Pint: Ball | Amazon
Ball Half-Pint: Ball | Amazon
Ball Small Decorative: Ball (shows where to find near you) | Amazon
Kerr Pint: Amazon
Kerr Half-Pint: Amazon | Wide Mouth Jar Amazon

Lids: I also use Ball or Kerr lids and if you buy the jars above, they will have lids with them. If you need more lids for some reason or have jars without lids you can buy lids just in a box. just remember to grab the wide mouth lids if they are the ones you need instead. Just note that I have the links to ones on Amazon below that I’ve searched. However, I’ve always just bought them from my local grocery stores so I have never personally tried the ones below.

Ball Lids: Amazon
Kerr Lids: Amazon

Crystallized Ginger

Vanilla