Why Peacham Preserves?

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Peacham is a cherished town in rural Vermont.

And who can resist a Peach?

Peacham Preserves Promises....

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....to provide recipes for making jam, jelly, confiture, chutneys, compotes, fruit butters, sauces, and yes, preserves.

We'll share techniques for preserving a garden harvest and how to make cordials and liquors with fruit.

Getting Started

September, October and November are the months for fruit preserving. Explore the local fruit sellers and orchards and ask if they sell seconds -- fruit that is bruised - which makes the best jam because the fruit is truly ripe. Before shopping for fruit or asking a neighbor if you can pick up all the apples in their yard, prepare the preserving work station.

Gather jars and lids for jamming. Acquire a couple of large stainless steel or enamel stock pots. Assemble the tools: tongs, an array of long handled spoons, cheesecloth for straining certain fruit, stout kitchen towels, a food mill, strainers and measuring cups.

You'll need sugar, lemons, tart apples (for natural pectin), and the fruit for the preserves.

The actual work of making preserves is minimal, except for standing by the stove and stirring.
For most of the recipes the tasks can be divided into three stages:

1 - Prepare the work station, gathering the tools and acquiring the fruit.
2 - Prepare the fruit for cooking. It could be simple such as cutting apples in half before piling them into a stock pot. Or fairly complicated such a filtering cooked berries through cheesecloth to eliminate seeds from the fruit mixture.
3 - Cook the fruit and sterilize the jars. Fill the jars and seal.