Jilly's Jam...Berry-Peach Screech

It's too blasted hot outside to feel like standing over the stove canning jam - but strawberries were on sale and the peaches I just bought are so good and sweet that I really wanted to make jam...so I did the next best thing and made freezer jam this time! This is a small batch recipe which I love (some times I really question making like 12 jars of jam for just me!), this makes 4 half-pints.

Why the name "berry-peach screech"? 'Cause making up cute jam names is half the fun of making jam! My last one was "so good it's scary blueberry" - click here for that post.

Did you know you can freeze in canning jars? I did not. So for this experiment I did 2 in glass and 2 in traditional plastic square containers. I made this a couple days ago and the jars are doing just fine in the freezer (I keep waiting for them to crack!), just make sure to leave about 1/2" space at the top before putting on the lids to account for expansion during the freezing process.

3 cups mashed strawberries (about 1 1/2 pounds fresh berries)
1 ripe peach
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons instant pectin (I've never worked with this before, it comes in a small round container. make sure it's the kind intended for freezer jams or heatless recipes).

1. Wash, hull, and coarsely chop the berries, then mash with a potato masher. I like to leave chunks so don't smash it to smithereens. Peel, pit, and chop the peach into small pieces.
2. Combine the berries, peach, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a large glass bowl. Stir well and let stand until berries have released some of the juice, about 30 minutes. 
3. Add pectin 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring until well combined after each addition. Let stand 5 minutes to activate the pectin.
4. Spoon jam into clean, wide-mouth, half-pint jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Wipe rims clean with a damp paper towel. Loosely apply clean lids, label the jars, and set in freezer.
5. Tighten the lids once the jam is completely frozen. Store in the freezer up to 1 year or in fridge up to 1 month.

37 calories per 2 Tablespoon serving

It didn't set up as firm as cooked jam, but not super runny either (when that happens we call it "ice cream topping" and still enjoy it!). I did spoon it over vanilla ice cream last night and also put it on my english muffin with peanut butter this morning. The stuff is good!