Lisa, if your fruit was hard like that and not juicy and really ripe it will be more firm jam or jelly. The greener the fruit the more natural pectin it has and will be a more firm product. This is why we teach people to use a mix of really ripe and some a bit more green in a batch of jam. This seems to be important with strawberry jam more so than some other types, in my experience. I just want to encourage you to not give up !!! You will be able to do this. It sounds as though the peaches were not ripe and juicy enough to get the liquid you needed. You do add the sugar all at once when using the powd. pectin. Normally it will dissolve and mix in with the liquid part in the pan, but since you didn't have the right amount of juice it just started burning. It does depend upon how ripe the fruit is how thick or thin the jam will be. Using fresh, tree picked fruit is ideal, but I do agree, that frozen may be better than what you used. Well, you are way to far away for me to help in person, or I would try to do more to help. Can you find a friend or someone who could help you through this in person ? If you try to cut down on sugar in a recipe with pectin it will not gel. You need to use the recipe for each type and brand of pectin. I prefer the powd. pectin. If you want a low or no sugar jam, learn to use Pomona's Universal pectin. It will gel water. Really it takes no sugar at all to gel. It is different to work with and may take a time or so to get comfortable with it. I am diabetic and use it for my jams for myself. My husband likes it when I make his with SureJel and use the sugar. So, I make both kinds here. You have learned to not double recipes, however, with Pomonas you can double and triple. You normally have to mail order the pectin from them. They sell in bulk, too. Not just boxes, but they have boxes, too. They even have a helpline you can call. The nicest folks there !! You can even create your own recipes with the stuff. They include recipes and instructions. Check out the link below to help you. You can click and see the recipes, too. http://www.pomonapectin.com/ You will not get crystal clear jelly with it, but you want jam, anyway. Doesn't matter to me if it is clear or not, even with jelly. I am not entering it in the fair, it is to eat. Each type of homemade jellied product have a different description. I am also sending you the link to all kinds of good info. Types of Jellied Products Jelly, jam, preserves, conserves and marmalades are fruit products that are jellied or thickened. Most are preserved by sugar. Their individual characteristics depend on the kind of fruit used and the way it is prepared, the proportions of different ingredients in the mixture and the method of cooking. Jellies are usually made by cooking fruit juice with sugar. (Some are made without cooking using special uncooked jelly recipes.) A good product is clear and firm enough to hold its shape when turned out of the container, but quivers when the container is moved. When cut, it should be tender yet retain the angle of the cut. Jelly should have a flavorful, fresh, fruity taste. Jams are thick, sweet spreads made by cooking crushed or chopped fruits with sugar. Jams tend to hold their shape but are generally less firm than jelly. (Recipes are also available for uncooked jams.) Preserves are small, whole fruit or uniform size pieces in a clear, slightly gelled syrup. The fruit should be tender and plump. Conserves are jam-like products that may be made with a combination of fruits. They also contain nuts, raisins or coconut. Marmalades are soft fruit jellies containing small pieces of fruit or peel evenly suspended in the transparent jelly. They often contain citrus fruit. Other fruit products that are preserved by sugar but not jellied include butters, honeys and syrups. Fruit butters are sweet spreads made by cooking fruit pulp with sugar to a thick consistency. Spices are often added. Honeys and syrups are made by cooking fruit juice or pulp with sugar to the consistency of honey or syrup. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document was adapted from "So Easy to Preserve", 5th ed. 2006. Here is a link that might be useful: Univ. of Georgia on jams, jellies, etc.

> 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

I did find crystallized ginger in the spice aisle at my local WalMart but decided to try the fresh ginger any way. The recipe I used was the recipe from the insert in the Sure.Jell Lower Sugar Fruit Pectin. I just added the fresh grated ginger. I looked at the Kraft recipe which calls for 1/4 cup of crystallized ginger. I definitely didn't have a 1/4 cup after grating. Since I made two batches of jam, one with low sugar and one with Splenda, I just halved the ginger for each batch. It came out well. The ginger is very subtle and not overpowering. As for using Splenda, I'm not sure about that. The directions in the insert said to use 1-1/2 cups. I used maybe a tablespoon less to cut down on the aftertaste. When I added the Splenda, the peaches had more bubbles throughout than the batch with sugar. I wasn't happy about that. I could not get all of the bubbles out of the jars. I stuck a knife in the jar and tapped jars on the counter before sealing and there were still bubbles. I went ahead and did the BWB and the jars sealed. I'll test one before I give them away for Christmas. I'm also going to try one more batch with the low-sugar pectin without adding any kind of sugar. I'm just curious about how it will turn out. Ginger PS. This is the first time I've used fresh ginger and it smelled divine. I even dabbed a bit of juice behind my ear. It will be a staple in my house from now forward.