Low Sugar Peach Jam

Low sugar peach jam is very easy to make. This recipe uses half of the amount of sugar than a traditional peach jam as well as no store-bought pectin. It’s also a simple jam to can, so really a must have summer jam to have on the shelf!

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Peaches, peaches, peaches… Is there a better summer fruit? Well, watermelons, cantaloupe, grapes, and figs are right up there on the list, but peaches… When they ripen, it’s as if you know for sure that you’ve lived another beautiful summer!

Here in the South, sun-kissed, sweet, juicy, ripe peaches are the highlight of summer. They are here for a short few weeks and we go crazy for them. We find them in the farmer’s markets and on road stands everywhere, literally still warm from the Southern sun, just picked a few hours before they are sold. You can never compare them to store-bought peaches!

Low Sugar Peach Jam Recipe…

We eat as many as we can fresh, however, you probably know how a homesteader’s brain works… We immediately contemplate all the ways to preserve the goodness because what can be better than eating Southern, golden, sweet peaches in winter when it’s cold and grey and you need something to lift your mood? Absolutely nothing!

I personally can all the peaches I can put my hands on. I use these to add as a side for french crepes or pancakes or to add to yogurt and homemade granola. I also make enough low sugar peach jam to last us until the next summer. It’s a really simple jam to make, great for a beginner, it’s delicious, and it lasts on the shelf for many months, never losing its amazing peachy taste!

Ingredients…

• Peaches – make sure to choose ripe, soft, sweet peaches. The kind of peaches doesn’t matter. In this recipe, I used orange flesh peaches but you can also use white peaches if you’d like. You might have read that white peaches are low in acid and therefore not safe to can, however, we are going to use lemon juice to add some acid anyway so that should take care of this issue. In fact, you can also use nectarines if you’d like or you can mix all of them together. I started with about 8 pounds of peaches but after removing the pits and dicing them I was left with a little over 4 pounds of fruit to make jam with.
• Sugar – traditionally, you’d use a ratio of one part fruit to one part sugar when making jams. This is way too sweet for me so I cut this in half. We are going to use 2 pounds of sugar with the 4 pounds of peaches. If your peaches are really ripe and sweet, you can even use a little less sugar. And if you are processing a different amount of fruit, just weigh it and then weigh the sugar (use half of the weight of the fruit in sugar).
• Lemon juice – fresh lemon juice is rich in pectin and adds a little bit of acidity to jams. It makes them taste better too. We are going to add the juice from half a lemon.
• Lemon seeds – since we are cutting the sugar in half, we can’t use store-bought pectin to help us gel the jam. That’s not a problem. Lemon seeds are rich in pectin and they are a big help in gelling jams. We’ll add 5-6 lemon seeds. You can fish them out before canning or leave them in, it doesn’t matter.
• Vanilla – this is optional but adds great taste! If you’d like, you can add a tablespoon of vanilla extract to your low sugar peach jam after it’s done cooking, right before you can it.

Kitchen Tools…

• Cutting board, and a knife  – to prepare the peaches.
• Deep pan – or pot with a heavy bottom to cook the jam in.
• Spatula or a wooden spoon – for stirring and a potato masher for mashing the fruit. If you like your jam to be real smooth without a lot of chunky fruit in it, you can use an immersion blender instead.
• Half-pint jars – you can keep this low sugar peach jam in the fridge if you’d like but you can also can it. If you choose to can it, I think that half-pint jars work best. You’ll also need…
• Canning utensils – we’ll use the funnel and the bubble remover. Also, make sure that you have a ladle or a large spoon to help you fill the jars and a damp paper towel to clean the rim of the jar before closing it.
• Water bath canner – to process those jars we are going to need the good old water bath canner and the rack that it comes with.

How to Make Low Sugar Peach Jam Step By Step…

Step 1 – prep the fruit and try to keep the kids from eating all of it. Give the peaches a good wash, cut around the pit and remove it and then dice the peaches. You do not have to remove the skin of the peaches. I actually like it in my jam and since I blend it or mush it I often don’t feel the skin at all when the jam is ready.

If you want to remove the skin of the peaches you are going to have to blanch them. Boil a pot of water and cut an x at the bottom of each peach. Add the peaches to the boiling water (work in batches) for about two minutes before you remove them right into a bowl filled with water and ice. Let them stay in the ice water for a couple of minutes and then peel them. The skin should come off easily. Once they are peeled you can remove the pit and dice them.

Step 2 – bring to a boil. Add the fruit and the sugar to a deep pan, set on the stovetop, turn the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil (stir frequently).

Boil for 7 minutes or so, stirring frequently. Then, turn the temperature to medium-low and keep cooking for about 20 minutes.

Step 3 – mash and add lemon juice. At this point, the fruit is soft. Use a potato masher or an immersion blender to blend it. If you like large chunks of fruit in your jam, use the potato masher. If you’d like your jam smooth use the immersion blender.

You might notice some foam forming around the pan, you can scoop it with a spoon or you can leave it and just keep stirring it in. In many cases, the foam disappears by the time that the jam is ready.

Next, add the lemon juice and 5-6 lemon seeds and stir them in.

Step 4 – check if the jam is ready. Cook the jam for an additional 20 or 30 minutes, stirring frequently. By this time you should notice that it’s starting to thicken and gel. If you are an experienced jam-maker it will be easy to recognize this stage, if you need help to figure it out, you can do the spoon test…

Scoop a little bit of jam with a spoon and set it on the kitchen counter to cool for five minutes. Then, add it back to the pot and as it leaves the spoon you’ll be able to measure how thick it is. Just take into consideration that the jam will keep on thickening as it cools in the jars after you can it so you don’t want it too thick. Once the jam is done, remove it from the heat and if you want, stir in the vanilla extract.

How to Can Low Sugar Peach Jam…

This recipe makes 7 half-pint jars of peach jam. You can definitely store this jam in the fridge, however, if you would like to can it, follow the instructions below…

1. Fill the water bath canner with enough water to cover the jars by at least an inch. Set on the stovetop and turn the heat to high. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Wash the jars, lids, and bands with hot water and dish soap (there is no need to sterilize the jars since we are going to process the jam for 10 minutes).
3. Fill the jars with the hot jam leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Use the bubble remover to remove air bubbles by scraping it along the inside of the jar. Use a damp paper towel to clean the rim of the jar before centering the lid and closing it with the band.
4. Set the filled jars on the rack of the canner and lower them into the boiling water. Cover the canner and process the jars for 10 minutes.
5. Turn the heat off and uncover the canner. Let the jars rest in the hot water for five minutes before you remove them. Set them on a kitchen towel on the counter to completely cool overnight.

Remember to adjust processing time according to the table below if you live above 1000 feet in elevation…

Storing Canned Peach Jam…

Before you store the jars, check to make sure that they have all sealed properly by pressing on the center of each lid. If there is no movement there it means that the jars have sealed. If you have a jar that didn’t seal you can store it in the fridge and use it first.

I usually wipe the jars and remove the bands before storage because they sometimes rust and it’s hard to open the jars down the road. I can also reuse the bands and it’s easier for me to monitor what is happening inside of the jar if the band is not in the way. Store this jam in the pantry. It should last up to 18 months.

How to Serve This Jam…

Peach jam is sweet and delicious! It’s a pretty thick jam, so it can be easily used in baked goods like these delicious thumbprint cookies or in cake or other baked goods. We love it on toast or bagel or homemade bread with or without cream cheese. It’s great in the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it’s a great addition on top of yogurt with some homemade granola.

Frequently Asked Questions…

Other Jam Recipes That You Might Like…

Making jams is my favorite way of preserving fruit and I have a lot of jam recipes here on the blog. You can check the full list on my Low-Sugar Jam Recipes page. If you are in search of more delicious summer jams, try these ones…

• Grape jam – no, not grape jelly, we are talking about jam with seedless grapes. It’s delicious!
• Mango jam – pretty much the same as placing summer in a jar and canning it (pineapple jam is the same thing). You gotta try it.
• Cantaloupe jam – I bet that you didn’t know that you can make jam from cantaloupes! I got stuck with a whole lot of them one year and this jam is what happened. It tastes like candy from the candy store.
• Fig jam – hands down, my favorite jam of them all.

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