2 cups white wine such as Muscat, Pinot Gris or Reisling
3/4 cup bottled lemon juice
1 cup finely minced jalapeno and/or habanero pepper or a combination of sweet and hot peppers
zest of 1 lemon
6 tsp. calcium water, included in package of Pomona’s Pectin and mixed with water according to enclosed instructions.
1–2 cups sugar
4 tsp. Pomona’s Pectin
Instructions
Prepare jars and lids for canning.
Peel peaches, dice and mash. I like to leave small chunks for visual appeal. Measure out 2 cups of mashed peaches.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and the pectin powder. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Place peaches, peppers, wine, lemon juice, lemon zest and calcium water into a large, shallow saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes to soften the peppers.
Add the sugar-pectin mixture, then stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, still over the highest heat, to dissolve pectin. Return the jam to a boil, then remove from heat.
Fill clean jars with preserves, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).
Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, return the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then remove jars from canner.
Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
While it’s fantastic enjoyed right out of the jar, this would be a thoughtful and delicious home-made token to give to friends at Christmas time, especially if you gift it with a charcuterie board!
A note on peppers:
When it comes to jalapeno peppers, remember that seeds and white membranes = spicy heat! I kept half the seeds and membranes in and discarded the rest, and it still had great heat. You can keep all the seeds in for a lot of heat, but that would be a powerfully spicy jelly, or discard them all, according to your taste. You can also substitute sweet peppers, or do half of each, depending on your heat preference. Always wear clean rubber gloves when chopping hot peppers, and don’t touch your face or eyes!
A note on wine:
Use a wine that has some sweetness to it for this recipe, rather than a dry wine, like a Pinot Gris, Riesling or muscat. My favourite wine for this is Here’s The Thing Vineyard’s “Rich”, an orange Muscat wine, but you’ll have to travel to their Osoyoos vineyard to purchase it. Roadtrip!
More Tips:
It’s best to use bottled lemon juice for canning rather than fresh as it has a consistent acid level.
I used 2 cups of sugar and found the sweetness level to be perfect, it’s not overly sweet.
You may notice “fruit float” when you take them out of the canner. This is normal and doesn’t affect the jam at all, and you can simply stir the jam to redistribute the fruit before serving. However, if you want to try and fix the problem, when you take the jars out of the water bath, leave them for about an hour to start cooling and seal. Then come back and check to make sure they are all sealed.
If you see that you have fruit float, turn the jars upside down to force the pulp to redistribute through the jar. Come back in about 45 minutes and turn the jars right side up to once again force the pulp to redistribute through the jar. Check again in another 45 minutes and if you have a distinct dividing line, turn the jars upside down again. Turn the jars right side up again in about 30 minutes.
You always want the jars to end up right side up. By keeping the pulp well distributed throughout the jars, there will not be a dividing line when the jell finally starts and locks everything into place.
