Roasted Peach Freezer Jam

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! 

How to make homemade 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

1. Toss peaches with vanilla bean paste and roast. 
2. 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). 
3. Combine peach purée with honey in a large bowl. 
4. 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. 
5. Immediately transfer pectin mixture to peach mixture and whisk to combine. 
6. 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. 
7. Seal jars, transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight. Use as is, or transfer to the freezer and save for later!

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.  

Peach freezer jam—what is it?

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

1. Use it in place of apricot jam in this chicken sheet pan dinner
2. Add it to BBQ sauce for a summer peach BBQ sauce
3. Use it instead of the simple syrup in this peach spritz cocktail
4. Add it to a cheese board or charcuterie board
5. Spoon over baked brie and serve with crackers 
6. On a PB&J sandwich! 
7. Spoon over cheesecake 
8. Spoon over vanilla bean ice cream 
9. Serve as a sauce with roast pork tenderloin
10. Spoon into thick slices of brioche bread and make stuffed french toast
11. Spread onto a crêpe and top with whipped cream
12. Spoon over shortcakes and serve with whipped cream

More recipe you may like…

• Cherry Freezer Jam
• Whipped Cranberry Butter
• Instant Pot Orange Chicken
• Lemon Curd
• Rhubarb Curd

Make sure to tag me @ZESTFULKITCHEN ON INSTAGRAM or comment below if you make this Peach Jam recipe!

To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can click the button on any of the photos, or the red button on the side bar or below the recipe. Happy cooking!

Print

This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting all things ZK!