Windfall of peaches – prep for jam

Canning! (as inspired by all of the lovely posts by Food in Jars)

Yesterday, I had a bit of a windfall in peaches, with the adorable berry boys, who sell orchard products at the farmers market across the street and are objectified by half of my co-workers, looking all befuddled when I asked to buy their defective fruit – and instead giving me the lot for free.

So this morning I cleaned away the bad spots and chopped up the good parts, and ended up with a decent haul:

• 4 cups of yellow peaches, which I have packed up with 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar as well as both the zest and juice from two lemons and a pinch of salt. I am thinking of adding allspice and chipotle when I go to cook this into jam – what do you think?
• 4 cups of white peaches, which I have packed up with 2 cups of white sugar, the zest and juice of 4 limes, and a pinch of salt. For this one, I am thinking of lots of ginger and some lemon grass (because I happen to have a bunch in my fridge right now). And then if I am doing that, then maybe a wee little stir in of my thai green curry paste.
• 1.5 cups of assorted plums and nectarines (and one white peach that was in disguise as a nectarine), which I have packed up with 3/4 cup of sugar and the juice of half a lemon (and a pinch of sugar). And I have no fancy ideas for this one.

And then I had to wash up and go to work.

I think I won’t have time to cook the jam until Sunday, but that should be okay. I’m planning to spend the time in between looking for a wide-mouthed funnel.

Oh, yeah, I also quested for canning jars at both of my local supermarkets and two of the small grocers with no success, but I did luck out at the local hardware store, and he’s going to order some of the wee, cute 4oz jars for me. They won’t be in for a week or so, and by then I’ll know whether or not the jam thing works for me. If not, they are still cute, versatile jars.