Along about yesterday, my good buddy Kristina came over with a big pile of white peaches from her yard. Kristina lives in Fallbrook, and she and her family have this fabulous yard full of citrus trees, avocados, and stone fruit. Every once in a while, she asks me if I want some. Do I ever?!

These were perfect, wonderful, sweet, juicy, just-slightly-bruised peaches. There was no way we were going to get to them all while they were still fresh. So I saved out the ones in the very best shape, and then I made this with the ones that needed attention immediately:

Fallbrook Sunrise Jam

  • 5 cups mixed white peach and black plum puree (mostly white peaches, with two plums. I didn’t bother to skin them, just pitted them and tossed them in the food processor. It’s OK to have some chunks — it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth.)
  • 5 Tbsp. lime juice
  • 5 c. sugar (I like the organic evaporated cane juice stuff)
  • A sprinkle of cinnamon and a dash of cloves

Prepare six half-pint jars — wash them and bring to a boil in your canner. Prepare the lids and bands. Your yield should be somewhere between four and six cups, depending on how soft you like your jam, so prep six jars to be on the safe side.

Bring the puree and lime juice to a boil in a wide shallow saucepan, stirring to keep it from sticking. Add the sugar. Return to a boil and boil hard, stirring frequently until the gel stage is reached. (I like mine a little soft, and bear in mind that since there is no added pectin to this recipe, it will probably be a soft jam anyway.) Skim off the foam if there is any.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, run a spatula around the jar to help remove air bubbles, wipe the rims, put on the lids and bands, and put the jars back in the canner. Bring to a boil, and water-bath process for 10 minutes. Remove the lid of the canner, wait five minutes, and then pull the jars out and set them on a heat-safe surface. I normally put mine on a towel. Leave ’em alone until morning, then check the seals on your jars. Reprocess or refrigerate any that didn’t seal correctly. Otherwise, they should keep on your shelf just fine. Remember to label and date them! Enjoy!

Fallbrook Sunrise Jam