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Concord Grape Jam and Peach-Rosemary Jam

Concord Grape Jam and Peach-Rosemary Jam
Author of "Canning in the Modern Kitchen," Jamie DeMent is making America's favorite jams.
Ingredients

Ingredients for Concord Jam

  • 5 pounds Concord grapes, stemmed
  • 5 cups sugar
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Ingredients for Peach-Rosemary Jam

  • 4 pounds of fresh peaches
  • 3 cups of sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 4 springs fresh rosemary
  • ½ cup of water

Canning 101 - Home & Family

Get your water bath canning equipment ready and have your jars sterilized and ready.

Directions for Concord Jam

Peel skins off grapes. This step takes some time – get the kids to help. To peel the grapes, hold the grape between you thumb and forefinger and squeeze to “pop” the skin off the grape flesh. Set grape pulp aside. Put skins and 1 cup of sugar in a food processor and purée. Put puréed skins, grapes, lemon juice, and the rest of the sugar in a large heavy pot on the stovetop. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Keep boiling, stirring frequently and skimming the foam, until everything is broken down — about 20 minutes.

Setup food mill or strainer over a large bowl. Carefully pour everything from the pot into the food mill and force through all the good stuff. Discard the solids and skin pieces left in the mill. Return the jam to pot and cook again at a slow boil. Keep stirring often and skimming the foam from the top. It usually takes around 30 to 35 minutes.

Use the cold plate testing method to determine when things are done. You perform this test by placing a saucer in your freezer when you start to cook. Pull this cold saucer out and drop a teaspoon of your jam or jelly onto the cold plate. Tilt it sideways a bit and watch the mixture. If it runs easily, it needs to cook more. If it basically stays put, the jam is ready.

When jam is done, very carefully ladle or pour the hot jam into the hot sterilized jars. Leave a ½ inch of headspace in each jar.

Wipe the rim of each jar carefully with a clean towel, to ensure a good seal, and carefully place lids and rims on.

Follow your water bath canning process and process for 10 minutes adjusting for altitude based on the chart below.

Altitude Adjustment for Boiling-Water-Bath Canning:

Altitude in Feet Increase Processing Time
1001-3000 5 minutes
3001-6000 10 minutes
6001-8000 15 minutes
8001-10,000 20 minutes

Directions for Peach-Rosemary Jam

Get a large bowl ready with ice water and set to the side. On the stovetop, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop your peaches into the boiling water, and make sure they are all submerged. Leave the peaches in the boiling water to blanch for about 3 minutes. Then use a slotted spoon to carefully move them to the bowl of ice water. Let them sit in the ice water for one minute to cool.

The blanching process should have loosened the skins to the point that you can just peel them off easily by hand. Do that now by quickly pulling the skins off all the peaches with your fingers. When you are done peeling, cut the peaches in half, remove the pit and cut the halves into half-inch chunks. Put the peaches in another large bowl and add the lemon juice. Gently stir around to coat the peaches to prevent them from turning brown.

Wash and dry rosemary sprigs.

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