> Do all newbies have this many questions? You bet! Some of us had WAY more. Luckily, people here are very generous with their answers! Don't worry, it won't be long before you are answering queries yourself. Sounds like you've had access to lots of good peaches where you are! Zabby P.S. your comment about the apple butter reminds me of one time when I was travelling with my BF and we stopped at a rural "roadside cafe" kind of place to eat. From where we were sitting we could see a shelf of what seemed to be local food products for sale --- bottles of hot sauce, jams & jellies, etc. We also saw some jars of something dark and sludge-like; we were too far away to read the label. I said, "Is that apple butter?" and BF said, "I think it's barbecue sauce." When we went up to pay, we took a closer look, and cracked up because the label actually said "Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce." Kind of your double-sludge item! ;-) Zabby

I'm just pasting these in super-quick with original comments from other posters and myself. Doris (RuddMd) on the CF made this recipe today and canned it. It sounds really good, the fact that there is no vinegar made me pause a minute, but with only two small peppers in it..... Peach Preserves for Cold Mornings (Doris, Ruddmd) 3 pounds ripe peaches, peeled and quartered l/2 medium-size orange, quartered and seeded 2 Red Savina habaneros, (seeds and all) 4 cups sugar 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 3/4 Cup honey (the lightest, mildest you can find) Combine peaches, sugar, and honey in a Dutch oven; stir well. Cover and let stand 45 minutes. Place knife blade attachment in food processor bowl; add orange quarters and habanero chiles. Process until finely chopped, stopping once to scrape down sides. Place orange, habanero chiles, and an equal amount of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until orange rind is tender. Bring peach mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high, and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes, stirring often. Add orange mixture. Bring to a boil; cook, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes or until candy thermometer registers 221, stirring often. Remove from heat; stir in almond extract. Skim off foam with a metal spoon. Quickly pour hot mixture into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process jars in boiling-water bath 10 minutes. Yield: 6 half-pints. It sounds really good, doesn't it? That's what I thought too.... I made the Peach and Pepper Jam today. I did a couple of things. I peeled the orange with a potato peeler and chopped that, then I cut the orange away from the white pith. For peppers I used 2 Hot Cherry Bombs and 1 hot cayenne. After cooking the jam I removed the peppers but left the orange peel in. The rest of the orange broke up and mixed in with the peaches very well. From what I tasted I think it turned out really really good. I'll let it sit a couple of weeks then test. Mind looks like a marmalade. Balance of flavors seems nice. Nancy on R Ex (wizardm) This is from "The Jamlady Cookbook" you asked about. It does have additional acid, so that would make it even safer. Might add another layer of flavor, too, since plain peach is kind of bland. Jamlady's Original Hot Mango Jam with a Hot Picante Peach Jam variation. 5 cups sugar 2 3/4 cups peeled, chopped mangoes 1 cup seeded or unseeded chopped jalapeno peppers 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1 1 3/4-ounce box regular powdered pectin 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice or lime juice or 1/3 teaspoon citric acid 1/2 teaspoon butter (optional) Blenderize the peppers and vinegar. Mix the lemon juice, butter, chopped mangoes, pepper mixture and pectin in a pan and boil for 1 minute. Add the sugar; boil for 1 minute more. Check the set. BWB 10 minutes. Hot Picante Peach Jam - Use peaches instead of mangoes and ripe, red jalapeno peppers. The resulting jam will be orange-colored. Carol

Pinkmountain, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't due to the lack of pectin. I made apricot jam and Christine Ferbers' mint pepper strawberry preserves both without pectin and they still have a jam feel. The strawberry recipe had 4 parts sugar to 5 parts fruit by weight and I used a bit less sugar to fruit in the apricot jam. Both had a kind of soft set, but they had a set. The jam for cold mornings and the brown sugar rum are also around that ratio - somewhere between 5 and 6 parts fruit to 4 parts sugars. The maple peach that I made isn't runny and it will stay on the bread but the texture is in a different class. It is solid enough to stay where I put it but it doesn't have any "set". My husband tried it without being told what it was and referred to it as peach butter. It has one part sugar in the form of maple syrup to about 10 cups peaches. It is good and I'm not sorry that I made it but I would tend to call it something other than peach jam. I'd call it peach sauce like apple sauce except that people might think that meant it was a syrup. Maybe peach butter - I'm not sure what makes a fruit butter.

How's this one? I've never made it. Peachy Jalapeno Jelly 12 peaches, skinned 7 large jalapeños, chopped 5 to 6 cups granulated sugar 1 package pectin Cook the peaches until done, but not too mushy. Add the jalapeños and cook until tender. Add sugar and cook until thickened, then add pectin. Cook an additional 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour the jelly into sterilized jars, filling to a half inch from rim. Tighten the lids and put in a hot bath for 20 minutes.