Peach Jam with Sucanat and Bourbon

(1 1/2 pints)

Sucanat was one of those things I had never tried although I knew what it was. I'm not really sure why I held out as long as I did, I'm usually pretty adventurous when it comes to food. The other day I found myself checking it out once again in the bulk food section at Whole Foods. I grabbed two scoops of it. The stuff is quite nice. It dissolves quickly and in my opinion it's much better tasting than brown sugar. According to wiki sucanat is dried cane juice which has been minimally processed. It has a deep rich flavour due to its molasses content.

I combined the peaches with a low sugar pectin, but made this batch sweeter than my last attempt at jam making with the strawberries. If I'm completely honest I prefer this peach jam, even though it ended up containing a few more calories.


1 1/2 lbs peaches, about 5 peaches
1 tsp fresh finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup sucanat
2 tbsp Ball's no or low sugar pectin
1/3 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp butter*, optional
1/4 cup bourbon

This recipe makes a small amount of jam. If you don't plan on consuming all of it within a month, I have provided a link at the bottom for instructions on how to prep the jars and can the jam in a hot water bath. I imagine you could also freeze it for up to year with much less fuss. Just give it a good stir after you thaw it out.

Bring a pot of water to boil and drop in the peaches for about 30 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon and briefly run them under cold water. Make a slit on each peach with a sharp knife and slip off the skins.

Remove the pits and coarsely chop up the fruit. You should have about 2 1/2 cups. Place the fruit into a heavy pot and using a potato masher, crush the fruit a bit.

Sprinkle the lemon zest, lemon juice, sucanat and pectin over the peaches. Leave for a minute or two until the sucanat has dissolved. Pour in the apple juice. Add the butter if using. *The instructions that came with the pectin suggest using the butter to keep the foaming to a minimum and it worked quite well.

Bring the fruit mixture to a boil. Continue to boil briskly, stirring from time to time to prevent scorching for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon.

Ladle into jars leaving a bit of space on top (this is especially important if you plan to freeze your jam) and cover with the lids.

See the instructions below if you are using a hot water bath. Otherwise allow the jam to cool completely, then refrigerate or freeze.

Hot water bath canning.