Our freezer is still way too full so I decided that since my nephew's peaches that he sells would be here around July 4 I could afford to take whatever peaches were left in the freezer and make some Spiced Peach Butter. It's so easy to make I'm almost ashamed to lay claim to calling it "my homemade" but it's delicious!! You simply put enough peaches whether frozen or fresh into a 4-6 qt crockpot to nearly fill it, add 4 cups sugar or whatever sweetener, 1 Tbs. lemon juice, 2 Tbs. ground cinnamon, 1 Tsp. ground cloves and 1/2 Tsp. ground allspice. Bring it up to where it's boiling. I put it on high and then put something under the lid to leave space between the lid and the pot so the liquid can dissipate making the butter thicker yet when it splatters it will still have the lid on to stop the splatters from going all over your counter. Then when it gets to about the consistency you think it should be, mash it up or use an immersion blender. Continue to cook, if you desire, until you're sure of the consistency and then put it in jars and seal them in a water bath. It will probably take about 6 to 12 hours depending on how thick you like it and the size and power of your crockpot. Could it be any easier though? There are numerous recipes floating all over the internet. Some don't use lemon juice, and some don't use the spices but add vanilla. I thought vanilla sounded good too. I also considered going half sugar/half stevia but for this batch I used sugar only. You might want to try Taste of Homes' or twopeasandtheirpod.com recipes, but my recipe comes the closest to following the one on pickyourown.org.
After I got that into the crockpot this morning I started on blackberry jam. This is the jam I remember from my childhood. I can't help it. It's my favorite. I've spent many a summer picking blackberries and dewberries, getting mosquito bitten and scratched with thorns for a big pan of berries and I don't regret it one bit!!
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Our electricity went off today right in the middle of all this jam and jelly fiasco and was off for about an hour so it put me behind schedule but I did get the red raspberry seedless jelly and the blackberry jam made and the peaches for the peach butter are still in the crockpot simmering away. Time to wrap it up for today and get some supper made. See ya!