Peacharita Jam

Another excellent combination of fruit with alcohol to can a jam with a party flavor. If you love margaritas you will love this Peacharita jam. Most of the alcohol will cook out during the initial processing but it will linger enough for you to taste when you open the jar.

This recipe comes from my sister's favorite jam book, "175 best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades & other soft spreads". We did a bit of an adaptation since we soak the peaches overnight to get them "juiced" up for the cooking process. Most of the recipes in the book are high sugar so we also lowered the sugar and used the Ball Flex batch no sugar/low sugar pectin. 

We enjoyed the flavor and hope that you will too!

Peacharita Jam

3 cups peaches, chopped

2/3 cup lime juice

½ cup tequila

¼ cup triple sec

2 cups sugar

3 T. Ball Flex batch no sugar/low sugar pectin

Preparation: Prepare 5 half pint jars in hot water. Prepare peaches by peeling, pitting, then quartered and chopped. Add lime juice and tequila and let them sit for an several hours to overnight in the fridge covered.

Cooking: In a stainless steel pot add peaches mixture adding the triple sec and sugar.   Heat over medium till it comes to a simmer, then turn to medium low and cook stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. The peach should be broken down, if not cook for 10 minutes more.  Bring it back to a boil, stirring often and then add the pectin.  Once the pot comes back to a boil, continue to cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Processing: Ladle jam into hot, sterilized half pint canning jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air bubbles and refill if necessary. Wipe rims, and add hot lids and rings. Place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add hot water to the canner if it doesn't measure up. Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 10 minutes. When complete turn off the heat and remove the cover and let the jars sit for another few minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Sometime in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.