There’s no better way to preserve the flavor of summer peaches than with a homemade Peach Jam! This roasted peach jam is a freezer jam, which means you don’t have to mess around with the whole canning process, just pop it in the freezer instead! Plus, it’s naturally sweetened with honey and sugar in the raw, and is flavored with vanilla bean paste. It doesn’t get more yum than this!
Peach Jam with Honey
There are two reasons why I chose to use honey in this recipe. For one, here at ZK we love to use natural sweeteners as often as possible. Most of our baking recipes use natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.
The second reason this recipe uses honey is because it adds more flavor to the jam than regular sugar would. Honey adds a unique floral note which compliments peaches beautifully.
How to Make Peach Jam
Although making homemade jam is a simple process, there is one essential ingredient you’ll need—pectin. For this recipe you’ll need Premium Fruit Pectin For Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes. This specific pectin is important because we’re using less sugar than most recipes call for. Not only are we using less sugar altogether, but we’re naturally sweetening this jam with a combination of honey and sugar in the raw.
The pectin is important here to create the gelatinous, jam-like texture. Without it, we’d be making a peach sauce.
7 steps to making homemade peach jam
- Toss peaches with vanilla bean paste and roast.
- Pulse roasted peaches, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a food processor until desired consistency is reached (decide whether you like it chunky or not).
- Combine peach purée with honey in a large bowl.
- Whisk together sugar in the raw and pectin in a saucepan, add water, bring to a boil and cook for just over half a minute until mixture starts to thicken.
- Immediately transfer pectin mixture to peach mixture and whisk to combine.
- Divide jam between sanitized jars, place lids over jars (don’t screw on) and let jam cool at room temperature for 1 hour to set.
- Seal jars, transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight. Use as is, or transfer to the freezer and save for later!
What is Freezer Jam
This peach jam recipe is a freezer jam. What does that mean? Broadly speaking, it’s stored in the freezer because the fruit isn’t cooked (like it is in most jams) and it doesn’t go through the canning process. So what’s the benefit of making freezer jam?
- It requires less cooking and time
- Less sugar is needed
- Has a fresher flavor
- Doesn’t have to go through canning process
Now, you might be wondering why I’m touting freezer jam to be a no-cook jam and yet here I am having you roast peaches. The reason I call for roasting the peaches is because it adds deep, dimensional flavor. If you don’t want to roast the peaches, no problem, skip that step. If you do end up skipping the roasting step, decrease the amount of water from ½ cup to ⅓ cup.
Peach Jam Variations
Make it boozy: add a a few tablespoons of bourbon to the peach purée.
Add some herbs: add minced thyme or rosemary to the peach purée.
Add a different extract: skip the vanilla bean paste and add ¼–½ teaspoon almond extract to the peach purée.
12 ways to use this peach jam
- Use it in place of apricot jam in this chicken sheet pan dinner
- Add it to BBQ sauce for a summer peach BBQ sauce
- Use it instead of the simple syrup in this peach spritz cocktail
- Add it to a cheese board or charcuterie board
- Spoon over baked brie and serve with crackers
- On a PB&J sandwich!
- Spoon over cheesecake
- Spoon over vanilla bean ice cream
- Serve as a sauce with roast pork tenderloin
- Spoon into thick slices of brioche bread and make stuffed french toast
- Spread onto a crêpe and top with whipped cream
- Spoon over shortcakes and serve with whipped cream
More recipe you may like…
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PrintRoasted Peach Freezer Jam
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes + cooling time
- Yield: 3 ⅓ cups (about 28 ounces) 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Enjoy the flavors of summer all year long with this easy peach freezer jam flavored with vanilla and lemon.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ripe peaches, pitted and cut into 1-inch pieces (4 ½–5 cups)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste, divided
- 1 teaspoon minced lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- rounded ¼ teaspoon pink peppercorns (or ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper)
- ½ cup honey
- ⅔ cup sugar in the raw
- ½ package Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin For Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes (25 grams or 2 Tbsp. + 2 ½ tsp.)
- ½ cup water
- ground black pepper, optional
Instructions
Heat oven to 450°F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Toss peaches with 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, arrange in a single layer on prepared sheet. Roast peaches 15 minutes; let cool slightly.
Transfer peaches, and any juices, to the bowl of a food processor with lemon juice, zest, salt and pepper; pulse until nearly smooth. Transfer peach mixture to a large bowl with honey and remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste; stir to combine.
Whisk together sugar and pectin in a saucepan. Stir in water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat; boil 45 seconds (start timing right when the mixture comes to a simmer), stirring constantly.
Working quickly, stir pectin mixture into peach mixture until well combined. Season the jam to taste with additional salt and black pepper.
Divide jam among four 8-ounce jars, leaving ¼–½ inch of room at the top. Seal jars and leave jam at room temperature until set, at least an hour and up to overnight, but no longer than 24 hours.
Notes
Refrigerate jam up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year. Thaw jam in refrigerator before using.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 47
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 24mg
- Fat: 0g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 12g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 0g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: peach jam, peach freezer jam, freezer jam
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I tried this recipe with the roasted peaches( fresh picked). I added a dehydrated Habanero to two of these. I’m anxious to give it a taste but am letting it sit for awhile. The honey I used is from our own bees!!
★★★★★
The addition of habanero sounds delicious! Have you tasted it yet??