Peach Ginger Tea Jam
Ingredients:
2 to 2.5 lbs firm-ripe peaches (tasty, not runny)
4 oz crystallized stem ginger
6 oolong teabags
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups boiling water
1.5 packages Sure-Jell pectin, or 1 and 3/8 oz. Ball pectin. (Don't try to measure the Ball pectin by tablespoon, it will pack down too tightly.)
Jars, lids, and bands sufficient to hold 9 cups of jam
Good, comfortable oven mitts or pot holders.
METHOD:
Prepare the base. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Cut a 1/2-inch deep X in the blossom end of each peach. Boil the peaches for about 2 minutes, or until the skin starts to peel back from the tips of the peaches. Remove peaches from boiling water with a slotted spoon and place them in ice water until cool enough to handle. Peel the peaches -- if they don't peel easily put them back in the boiling water for 30 seconds.
Pit and chop the peaches in a food processor, using the pulse action to get a coarse paste -- you want to be able to see chunks of peach, but not big lumps. You should have about 4 cups, or a bit more. Chop ginger to about the same size. Combine ginger, peaches, and lemon juice in a non-reactive container.
Use the boiling water and four teabags to make two cups of very strong tea, allowing it to brew for 10 minutes. Cool and stir one cup of tea into the peaches, keeping the rest for another use, like iced tea. Cover peach mixture with an airtight lid and refrigerate overnight or for up to three days.
Make the jam.
Clean the jars and lids, and your jamming utensils -- metal spoon, ladle, tongs or lifters. Place the jars in a large kettle and cover them with hot water, to at least 3/4 inch. Put the business ends of the utensils in the pot, put the pot on the stove, bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Put the rings and lids in a saucepan and cover with water; when the water in the big pot boils, turn on the heat under the saucepan to medium low and heat for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, place a Dutch oven or other thick-bottomed kettle on the stove (6 quarts), and in it place the peach base. Have all other materials ready to hand; sugar, 1/3 cup measure, small dish, teaspoon, wire rack, and a kitchen towel or two in a draft-free area of the counter.
Turn off the heat under the jars and rings, leaving everything in the water. Take the tags off the remaining teabags and put the teabags in the peach base. Turn on the heat under the base and gently stir in the pectin, being careful not to break the teabags. Add a cup of sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved; repeat four more times, bringing to a simmer after each addition. Press the teabags against the side of the pot from time to time as you stir, and remove them after 5 cups of sugar have been added. Then add the sugar a third of a cup at a time, until 7 cups have been added. Boil hard for one minute, then check to see if the jam is "sheeting" off the back of the spoon. Regulate the heat so that the jam does not boil over. When the jam sheets, or passes some other jell test like the cold plate test, turn off the heat.
Set a timer for five minutes. Skim any foam off the jam with the edge of the spoon into a small dish, being careful not to skim off the fruit with the foam. Use the teaspoon if necessary. When the timer rings, stir the jam to distribute the fruit evenly. Drain the lids and bands. Using the tongs or lifter, take the jars out of the hot water one by one and fill to 1/8 inch from top, using the ladle. Wipe the lip of the jar with a damp paper towel, apply a lid-and-band pair, tighten as tight as you can, and invert each jar on the wire rack. After 5 miuntes, turn jars right side up and place on the towels, out of any drafts. Let cool, make sure the lids have sealed from the depression in the middle (you should hear them pop), wipe clean, label, and store.