Homemade Peach Preserves

The ingredients for these preserves were simple - peaches and agar agar.  Now what on earth is agar agar you might ask?  It is a sea vegetable that serves as an emulsifier to thicken the preserves.  It keeps you from having to add a gelatin product to get your preserves to gel together.

Homemade Peach Preserves

4 cups fresh peaches

2 T Agar Agar flakes

1/2 cup turbinado or another natural sweetener (if you want a sweeter preserve; if not, leave out the additional sugar)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1:  In order to get your jars to seal your preserves, you need to heat the jars.  Here is one way to do that.  Heat four 1/2 pint jars in the oven by placing glass jars in a glass baking dish.  Fill the dish 1/2 the way up with water.  Add the 4 flat jar canning lids to the water so the rubber seal will heat as well. Turn your oven on 350 and place the pan of jars in the oven while you are preparing the peaches.

Step 2:  Cut peaches into small pieces.  Take one cup of peaches and puree them in the blender.  Pour puree into a small stock pot.  Stir in Agar Agar flakes.  Add additional 3 cups of peaches.  Allow mixture to come to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.  Stir often.  Then turn the stove off.

Step 3:  Remove the glass dish from the oven.  Fill the jars with the peach mixture leaving 1/2 an inch at the top of the jar.  Wipe the top edge of the jar to make sure it is "sticky free," so it will seal well.  Remove one of your jar lids from the water with a fork and place it on top of the jar.  Add your sealing ring.  Place jar in the refrigerator to cool.