Peach/Pluot/Nectarine Jam And Random Thoughts?

So Peach Jelly/Jam.. I'm not sure which one I am making at the moment.

Apparently, you can do something similar to "blanching" to peel the skin off of peaches. It works beautifully with pluots and somewhat all right with nectarines. I bought 6 peaches...3 were brownish inside and mushy so I had to throw them out. Bummer..

You boil the peaches for about 6-7 minutes. I will try the "x" mark at the bottom again. It worked so well with the pluots.

Here is a helpful website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/how-to-peal-peaches-and-tomatoes_n_1728240.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I picked some not quite ripe peaches at the store and getting the pit out was so painful. Those things are sharp!! I will try to find a better way. But so far so good. Boiling my other jars  now so that is  a head start from last time. (;

I chopped up all of my peaches (3) pluots (2) and nectarines (2) in the blender. It worked nicely on "grate" "grind" and "mash" but it may be a little too soupy instead of chunky. Oh well..

And every time I boil things in my stock pot (jars and lids and such) it boils over and spills everywhere. I need to find something to do that better...a bigger pot? Actually I need a dome lid on a true canning pot. I thought I am supposed to cover the jars like 1-2 inches of water to make sure they are all getting boiled. They are probably only covered maybe an inch at most. But I figure with all of the bubbles rising constantly, it works fine.

BTW: This is the recipe I am roughly using:

http://www.marthastewart.com/345551/peach-jam

But salt? Why? One of the reviewers said it was a great addition but I have no clue why. Flavor? I don't have "course" salt. Preservative? Like sea salt?

And after "blanching" them or whatever you want to call it boiling to peel my fruit, I saved the water because it looks like it could be good flavoring for something else. Yum Yum.

I really don't like adding lemon juice to my stuff. I don't like tasting it. It just taste like cleaner. Maybe I should start using pectin. (Because I think people substitute the lemon juice for pectin because of the acid? Or something...) But my lemon juice is expiring soon so maybe that's it.

I wonder if people ever make jelly/jam in a double boiler so that they don't have to stir it all the time. But I wonder if maybe those don't get hot enough to set it.

This recipe did foam. Unlike the other jams/jellies that I have made, it starts to foam when you pick it up with a wooden or metal spoon. But like the recipe says the foam will disappear and the fruit will appear to float to the top. This is a bit difficult for me to define since my fruit are all chopped up into baby food mush. But I think I can tell. And It splatters like nothing else. Be careful!

And note to self: Do not cover because you will forget to stir and it will burn :(
And don't buy the large pint size jars anymore. They are way too freaking big.

-Kristen