Making this easy fresh peach jam is super fun and rewarding. Homemade jam will last you for the whole year and can also make great gifts to share with friends and family.
Since Dustin and I moved to Austin, we have wanted to visit this little town called Fredericksburg, Texas. Fredericksburg is a small town deep in Texas Hill Country and is known for its peaches (as is its neighboring town, Stonewall).
So, not only did fresh peach jam sound amazing, but it also gave us an opportunity to visit Fredericksburg again. Yay!
That town is so darn cute -- we couldn't stand it. We both agree we already need to go back again.

With my parents visiting us for a week, we thought it'd be neat to make some homemade peach jam together. Over the years, we have all made homemade jam, including strawberry chia jam and blackberry chia jam.
What's not to love about a cute little country town that has “Fresh Peaches” signs posted everywhere? It's like a rule or something: fresh peaches = happiness. Visiting Fredericksburg even reminded Dustin and me how much we would love to live out in the country and run a vineyard or farm.

Ingredients for Peach Jam
You don't need many ingredients to make this easy peach jam recipe, thankfully. Here's what you'll need:
- Fresh Ripe Peaches: When you chop peaches, you'll need about 3 lbs. to yield 4 cups. We used a combination of Stonewall white and yellow peaches, but any peaches will do.
- Lemon Juice: This will require about 2 lemons and is a great acidic cut to the fresh peaches.
- Raw Honey: When swapping raw honey for granulated sugar, you don't need to use nearly as much of the honey because it is sweeter than sugar. Given this, I recommend using about ¾ cup for every 1 cup of sugar. For this recipe, that means using 5 ½ cups raw honey. This recipe originally included granulated sugar, and I've wanted to update it forever to avoid processed sugar. If you're following the original recipe, it called for a whopping 7 ½ cups of granulated sugar.
- Sure-Jell Certo Fruit Pectin: You'll need to use liquid fruit pectin so the jam sets and can be canned. If not canning and just making for use in the fridge, you can use chia seeds, as I do in these 5 Homemade Chia Jam Recipes.

How to Make Homemade Peach Jam
The process to make jam is relatively simple. Just follow these steps, and you've got it!
- Fill a Canner half-full of water and bring to a simmer.
- Wash Mason Canning Jars, Lids and Bands in hot, soapy water and then rinse with warm water.
- Remove the skin from the peaches.
- Add peeled peaches, lemon juice, and raw honey (or sugar)to a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil for a minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
- Ladle the mixture into the prepared, cleaned jars. Screw bands on tightly and place jars on the elevated Canning Rack in the canner.
- Lower rack into canner so that water covers jars by 1 to 2 inches. Cover and bring to a gentle boil for 10 minutes.
- Remove jars using a Jar Lifter and place them upright on a towel to cool completely.
- After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of the lid with your finger. If lid springs/pops back, it is not sealed and that jar will need to be refrigerated.
- Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours and then your jam is ready. Store unopened jam in a cool, dry, dark place for up to 1 year.
- Refrigerate opened jams for up to 3 weeks.

Choosing The Best Fruit For Homemade Jam
When buying fresh fruit for your jam, don't worry about how it looks – just how it tastes. We even ask for the “ugly" ones because they're usually cheaper. This is another reason why making homemade jam is amazing if you happen to have a lot of fresh fruit on your hands.
For the tastiest ripe peaches, look for vibrant, yellow flesh and golden-reddish skin. Again, bruises or blemishes on these peaches are okay.


How To Peel Peaches For Jam
For this easy peach jam recipe, you'll want to remove the skin from the peaches. To peel a fresh peach, blanch for 45 seconds in boiling water, then remove and place in ice cold water for 1 minute.
Using a sharp paring knife, make a criss-cross slit at the bottom of the peach to create a place to insert the knife blade.
Gently grab the skin between your finger and the knife blade and remove the skin. Trust me -- this works wonders.


Jam Making Tools You'll Need
Often, you can find some or all of these in a canning set on Amazon, but here are the individual pieces broken out and their uses.
- Paring Knife: This will be used to peel the peaches. Look for a sharp knife that can pierce the peach's skin but is still small enough to be easily maneuverable.
- Glass Mason Jars: Glass is the best option for canning, and it can be reused over and over. I use 16-oz mason jars for canning. For gifts, I'll also use these smaller 4-oz jars.
- Canning Pot: You'll need a deep, large pot that will hold the canning rack and all the mason jars. These can also be used to store all your canning tools once you're done. This is also called a "Canner."
- Sauce Pan: We'll need to cook down the peaches first before we turn them into jam, so you'll need a large saucepan to do so.
- Canning Rack with Tongs: This will be essential to lift the hot mason jars out of the boiling water in the canning pot.
- Canning Funnel: You'll need this when filling your mason jars. The wide mouth and large funnel will keep you from spilling your homemade jam everywhere. It also works great for adding anything to a mason jar.

Fresh Peach Jam Recipe
Equipment
- Glass Mason Jars I use 16-oz jars for storing it and 4-oz for gifts
- Saucepan
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh peaches about 3 lbs., we used a combination of Stonewall white and yellow peaches
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 5 cups raw honey*
- 1 pouch Sure-Jell Certo Fruit Pectin liquid fruit pectin
Instructions
- Fill a Canner half-full of water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Wash Mason Canning Jars, Lids and Bands in hot, soapy water and then rinse with warm water. Add jars, screw bands and lids to simmering water. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well.
- Remove the skin from the peaches by blanching for 45 seconds in boiling water, then removing and placing in ice cold water for 1 minute. Using a sharp paring knife, make a crisscross slit at the bottom of the peach to create a place to insert the knife blade. Gently grab the skin between your finger and the knife blade and remove the skin (see photos above). Once skin is removed, remove the pits. Finely chop the peeled, pitted peaches.
- Measure 4 cups finely chopped pealed peaches and cook over medium-high heat in 6- or 8-quart saucepan for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and raw honey to saucepan and stir to combine. [You may add ½ tsp. unsalted butter to reduce the foaming if you wish.]
- Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin pouch quickly. Return to a full rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Be careful not to let mixture boil over. Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
- Ladle mixture into the prepared, cleaned jars. I really recommend using a Wide-Mouth Funnel to easily ladle mixture into jars. Fill each jar to within ⅛-inch from the top. Wipe the jar rims and threads and cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands on tightly and place jars on elevated Canning Rack in canner. Lower rack into canner so that water covers jars by 1 to 2 inches. If more water is needed, add boiling water. Cover and bring to gently boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars using a Jar Lifter and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of the lid with your finger. If lid springs/pops back, it is not sealed and that jar will need to be refrigerated.
- Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Store unopened jam in a cool, dry, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate opened jams for up to 3 weeks.


Kathy Combs
Do you really have to boil it for 10 minutes? Ive made peach jam many times before and never done that and they all sealed with no problem.
Dorothy
It is for your health to boil for 10 minutes. Not just for sealing. If you don't heat it for 10 minutes, it will breed germs inside and mold easier.
Dotti Holden
Can you HELP me? I cooked fresh peaches and they never set. It is like apple butter, but not that set up. Can I open the jars and cook it down more to make it butter? Should I add more pectin, or just let it cook down and then re water bath?
William Smith
Wow! Great Recipe with all the detailed guideline.
How do you make these with all the care and affection for us, Lacey? Thanks a lot.
Gloria
How many grams are the Pectin sachets you use. In SA we need to measure the pectin as we don't get pectin sachets. How much prctin to 500g peaches? Thank you awaiting your reply
Gloria
I used someones recipe & they said cover peaches with water than boil till sift. When dift measure cup pulp forvcup sugar. Now my jam doesn't want to set. Added 2 Tblsp lemon juice for every pound of fruit. How can I get my jam to set. Next time will definately use your recipe.
Gloria
How many grams are the Pectin sachets you use. In SA we need to measure the pectin as we don't get pectin sachets. How much prctin to 500g peaches? Thank you awaiting your reply
Gloria
jay
first time i tried to make jam of any kind. it did'nt set up, so i'm going to try and fix it with info i found in you'r links. i don't water bath i put jars in oven at 200 deg and with hot jar and fillings they seal worked for my veggies oh the jam tastes good rhanks jay
Kimberly Beaudry
What happens if you DONT add the lemon juice? Is it absolutely necessary!?
Christina
No, it's not, and that's a lot of sugar. You don't need pectin either. I made peach jelly today. 2 quartz of sugar, a half cup of water and 6 cups of sugar.
Dustin
Sounds good this year can't wait for peach season.
Stacy
Hi,
I would really like to make the peach jam,but I don't have a pressure cooker or a canner. Would a regular pot work also??
Lacey Baier
Yes, I believe you can! A regular very large and deep stock pot will also work in order to create the water bath 🙂 Just be sure the cans can be completely submerged in the water. Here is some more info to help you: http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_whyuseacanner.htm
Christopher
Yes this is how I do it. Just submerge a towel in the stock pot to create a barrier between the jars and the metal. Light boil for 10 mins and let cool. Just made some today (9/4/17) and it's delicious.
Ashley
This looks so good! Would powdered fruit pectin work as well, or does it have to be the liquid stuff?
Thanks!
Lacey Baier
Thanks so much, Ashley! Very good question. I've never used powdered fruit pectin, but it appears it's totally possible to use it, but it's not a 1:1 exchange. Here's a useful post I found on this topic that will show you the conversion rate from the gel to the powdered plus the difference in sugar amounts you will need 🙂 http://www.sbcanning.com/2011/06/powdered-vs-liquid-are-they-all-same.html Let me know is you have any questions!
Barbara
Just picked our own peaches from the tree in our garden in the UK, we had such a glut this year that I made your jam and also a Peach and Date chutney, they said to wait three weeks before trying no chance one jar has already been eaten I did not use pectin in my Jam but did use jam sugar and it set up very quickly. hope our tree does well next season.
Michaela
Hi there! I came across your post while searching Pinterest for some new jam ideas. The first thing I saw was that your peaches are from Fredericksburg, Texas... My hometown!! My family are actually peach (and other various fruit and veggie) farmers in Fredericksburg. Next time you are in my cute little hometown, stop by the red barn called "Engel's Orchards" for delicious peaches and plums...you won't be disappointed! Thanks for sharing your jam recipe!
Lacey Baier
Yes!!! - we've been there before and loved the peaches 🙂 Thanks so much for saying hello!
Janet Harras
I make peach jam but I also add 1/4 cup of chopped maraschino cherries to each batch. Yummy!
Lacey Baier
Janet, that is an AMAZING idea. I can't imagine anything that wouldn't taste better with maraschino cherries 😉
janelle
Hi i followed the instructions and it taste so yummy. thanks for sharing . but my didn't set up like jam. its runny still. i let it cool all night. any tips or pointers on why it wouldn't? thanks.
Lacey Baier
Hi Janelle. Here's a site that has all sorts of helpful tips for how to actually remake un-set jam: http://www.pickyourown.org/how_to_fix_runny_jam.htm. I hope this helps you out! Good luck!
Sam
This recipe is straight out of the certo box. It is a good recipe though. Yummy jam.
Lacey Baier
Yep, pretty much straight from CERTO 🙂 and yummy, too.
Susan
This year I made peach apricot jalapeño jam with my Fredericksburg peaches and home grown jalapeños. Great on toast, fabulous with roast pork and pork chops!
Lacey Baier
Interesting combo! Thanks for sharing 🙂