Figure out how much your jam costs per jar. Follow these steps.
Look
1. Cost of the peaches ........... . .... . ... . ... $. _ __
2. Cost of the sugar used ............ ... .... .
3. Cost of the jars and lids .................. .
ALABAMA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SYSTEM, ALABAMA A&M AND AUBURN UNIVERSITIES
4. Cost of the lemon ......................... .
5. Total ..... ... ................ ... .. .............. $._ __
Making Peach Jam
6. Number of jars of jam .................... .
7. Cost of each jar of jam:
Line 5 divided by line 6 ................... $_ __
Did you save money by canning your own jam?
To find out, check the price of a pint of peach jam
. What
at the grocery store. What is it? $
is the difference in the price of the store jam and your
jam?$_ _ __
Making peach jam is easy and fun. It's a good way
to learn about food preservation. Your family and
friends will enjoy eating your jam, too. Here are some
uses for peach jam:
• As a spread on toast or biscuits
• As a topping for ice cream
• As a filling for cookies and tarts
Before You Start
Wash your jars in soapy water and rinse them.
Check the jar rims for chips that would keep them
from sealing. Place your jars in a rack in a waterbath
canner to heat. The water should be deep enough
to cover the jars 1 to 2 inches. Heat the jars on low
until you are ready to fill them with jam.
Read and follow the instructions that came with
your canning lids and rings.
• As a garnish for meats
• As gifts for friends and family
What You Will Need For Five Pints
Answers: a. sealing; b firm-ripe; c waterbath canner; d. sticking, scorching; e air bubbles;
f. mold; g. one pint.
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5 pounds of peaches, firm-ripe and not hard
Wire basket or thin cloth bag
Waterbath canner
Large boiler of water
Large pan of ice water
Paring knife
Large bowl
33/4 cups sugar
Food chopper or fork
Large, thick-bottomed boiler
Long-handle,d wooden spoon
One lemon, cut into 5 slices
Scoop or large spoon
Jar filler
Tray or cookie sheet to hold jars while filling
Luncheon knife (plastic)
Clean, damp cloth
Five pint jars, jar lids, and rings
Canning tongs
Preparing The Fruit
Heat a large boiler of hot water. You will use it
to loosen the skin of the peaches. Wash the peaches
and put a few in the wire basket or thin cloth bag.
Dip them in the hot water for about one minute or
until the skins will slip. Then place them in ice water.
Continue until all the peaches have been dipped in
the hot water. Soft peaches don't need the hot water
treatment.
Revised by Evelyn Crayton, Extension Foods And Nutrition Specialist,
Associate Professor, Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University.
....
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Exten51on
SYSTEM
LEAFLETYHE-2
For more information, call your county Extension office Look in your telephone
directory under your county's name to find the number.
Issued in furtherance of Cocperdtive Extension work in agriculture and home economics, Acts of May
8 and June 30, 1914, and other related acts, in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture
TI1e Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M University and Auburn University) offers
educational programs, materials, and equal opportunity employment to all people without regard to
race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability
UPS, 4M08, Rep 8:97, YHE-2
Exploring Your Project Series
LEAFLET YHE-2
Peel the peaches and cut them into pieces. Then
put the fruit through a food chopper using a medium
blade. This will cut the fruit evenly and make a nicer
looking jam. If you don't have a food chopper, cut
the peaches into small pieces and mash them into a
pulp with a fork. To preserve as much of the peach
juice as possible, do your cutting over a large bowl.
Making A Larger Or Smaller Batch
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Generally, 1 pound of fruit will fill one pint jar.
So, if you use 4 pounds of peaches, you should have
four pints of jam. It's not a good idea to try to cook
more than 6 pounds at a time. Use 3/4 cup of sugar
for every pound of peaches. If you are cooking 3
pounds of peaches, use 21/4 cups of sugar. Use one
lemon slice for every pound of fruit. How many lemon
slices would you need if you are cooking 6 pounds
of fruit? _ _ _ __
3. Judge your jam. Use this check sheet. Write
yes or no in each square.
First Second Third
Batch Batch Batch
Jars are free from chips.
Peaches are firm-ripe .
All the jars sealed.
Place the jars on a rack in the hot waterbath canner. Add enough water to cover the jars 1 to 2 inches. Turn heat to high. Start counting the time when
the water begins boiling. Process the jam for 10 minutes. (If you were canning in quart jars, you would
boil them for 10 minutes, also.) This processing helps
prevent mold from forming in the jar or the fruit from
fermenting. It also makes for a firm seal and helps
remove air from the jar. If you follow these instructions, the jam is less likely to turn dark.
Color is good.
Things You Can Do
1. Review what you've learned by completing
these sentences.
a. Chips around the mouth of a jar may keep it
Making The Jam
from _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Place the fruit pulp into a heavy boiler. Add 33/4
cups of sugar and stir. Add five slices of lemon. Or,
you can use commercial pectin. Follow the instructions that come with the pectin.
Cook the mixture to boiling over medium heat.
Stir it often as it cooks to keep it from sticking and
scorching. A wooden spoon is good to use. Cook the
fruit until it is clear and will heap up on the spoon.
Remove the lemon peel.
b. Peaches should be _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , not
hard .
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c. Use a - - - - - - - - - - - - - to process the jam.
d. Stir the jam to keep it from _ _ _ _ __
and _ _ _ _ __
e. Slide a knife down the sides of jars after filling
As soon as 10 minutes are up, remove the jars
with tongs. Set the jars on a folded towel far enough
apart so they can cool. Do not cool them in a draft.
Let them cool for 24 hours.
them with fruit to remove __________
f. Processing the jam helps prevent _ _ _ __
from forming in the jar.
g. Generally, one pound of fruit makes _ _ __
____ of jam.
2. Keep a record of your jam-making by filling
in this chart.
Canning The Jam
Set the jars on a tray for easy clean-up. Fill each
hot jar to within 1/2 inch of the top. Use a jar filler
to avoid spills. Remove air bubbles by sliding a plastic
knife down each side to the bottom of the jar. Wipe
the tops of jars around the rim with a clean, damp
cloth. A small amount of food on top of the jar mouth
may prevent a lid from sealing. Adjust the lids according to the directions on the box.
Date
After the jars have cooled, you may want to
remove the rings to prevent them from rusting. Test
each jar lid for a seal. To test, press each lid in the
center. If it clicks up and down, you don't have a seal.
Store jars that are not sealed in the refrigerator and
use them first.
Number
of
Pounds
Number
of
Pints
Who
Helped
Me
Time
Spent
Taste is good.
I shared my jam with
someone in my family.
I shared my jam with
someone outside my
family.
4. Cory and Stacy wanted to find out how much
one jar of their jam cost to make. Here's how they
figured it.
a. The peaches cost $2.50 for 5 pounds.
b. The sugar cost 60c. They figured this by dividing the cost of a bag of sugar ($1.09 for 5 pounds)
by the number of cups in the bag (7 cups) to get the
cost per cup (151/2e rounded to 16e). Then they multiplied by the number of cups they used (33/4) and
got 16e x 33/4 cups = 60e.
c. The lemon cost 15e.
d. They already had their jars. Their lids cost 3e
each, or 15e total.
e. Their total cost was:
peaches
$2.50
sugar
.60
lemon
.15
lids
.15
$3.40
To find out how much each jar of jam cost, they
divided $3.40 by 5 jars, or 68c each.
So, each jar of jam cost 68c to make.