How do I make peach jam?

Peach jam needs two additions peaches cannot supply themselves: pectin and lemon juice. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) recipe is 3 3/4 cups crushed, peeled yellow peaches (about 3 pounds), 1/4 cup lemon juice, one package of powdered pectin and 5 cups of sugar, for about 6 half-pints. Use yellow-fleshed peaches only. White peaches test above pH 4.6, and extension services say not to can them at all. This page covers peeling and crushing, the four tested peach jams, keeping the color, the white peach problem and what to do instead, and processing by elevation.

Why every peach recipe carries lemon

NCHFP puts peaches in its "always needs help" band, fruit that always needs added acid, pectin or both [1]. University of Wisconsin Extension names peaches, with pears and figs, as low-acid fruits and says to add bottled lemon juice to them according to tested recipes [2]. (It also says white-fleshed peaches are higher in pH and lower in acid than yellow ones, which is why only yellow peaches go into its recipes [2].) The lemon in a peach jam is there because acid is part of how pectin gels; with too little, NCHFP says, the gel will never set [3]. Every tested peach jam on this page includes it, and none of them leaves it optional. Keep the full amount.

Bottled lemon juice is the safe default because its acidity is consistent. USDA specifies bottled lemon juice in its own remake procedures for that reason [4]. More on acid, lemon juice and the set.

Getting peaches ready

NCHFP's directions are short: sort and wash fully ripe peaches, remove stems, skins and pits, and crush [5]. A few points make the job go well.

1. Peel first. Every tested peach jam here removes the skins [5] [6]. Peeling methods are covered on preparing fruit for jam.
2. Crush, do not puree. The recipes call for crushed fruit. Measure after crushing, packed the way the recipe was written.
3. Weigh as a check. NCHFP gives about 3 pounds of whole peaches for 3 3/4 cups crushed, and about 3 1/2 pounds for 4 1/4 cups [6]. If your yield is far off, your measure probably is too.
4. Work in one session. Cut peaches darken in the air. The tested jams add their lemon at the start, with the fruit [5] [6], so get the crushed peaches into the pot with the lemon promptly. The tested jam recipes do not call for any other anti-browning treatment.

The tested peach jams

The ginger version adds 1 to 2 ounces of finely chopped candied ginger, to taste, to the liquid pectin recipe, stirred into the crushed peaches with the lemon juice and sugar before heating [6].

Powdered pectin method

1. Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to the manufacturer's directions [5].
2. Measure the crushed peaches into a kettle. Add the lemon juice and pectin and stir well.
3. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface.
4. Add the sugar, continue stirring, and heat again to a full bubbling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
5. Remove from heat and skim. Fill hot jam immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a dampened clean paper towel, adjust two-piece metal canning lids, and process in a boiling water canner.

Liquid pectin method

The order changes: combine peaches, lemon juice and sugar, bring to a full boil, boil hard for 1 minute, then take the kettle off the heat and stir in the pectin [6]. Skim and fill as above. Do not swap the pectins between these two recipes; the reasons are on liquid or powdered pectin.

No-pectin peach jam

NCHFP's table for jam without added pectin gives 5 1/2 to 6 cups crushed peaches, 4 to 5 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice [7]. The mixture is cooked until it reaches the temperature NCHFP gives for your elevation, 220 degrees F at sea level, or until it passes the refrigerator (cold plate) test [7]. It takes longer and darkens more than the pectin versions; NCHFP lists overcooking among the causes of darkened jam [8].

Keeping the color

Browning shows readily in a light-colored jam like peach. NCHFP gives overcooking and storing too long or too warm as the causes, and says to avoid long boiling, make small batches that cook quickly, store jars in a cool, dry, dark place, and use them within a year [8]. Light-colored products lose quality faster than others in storage, NCHFP adds [9]. More on darkened jam.

White peaches: freeze them instead

White-fleshed peaches look like yellow peaches with a lighter flesh, and they are a different case for canning.

• Penn State Extension gives their pH as above 4.6, which makes them a low-acid fruit, and recommends freezing [10].
• UC Master Food Preservers report that testing found white-fleshed peaches higher in pH than yellow ones, and that no research has yet produced a safe home canning method for white peaches or white nectarines, with added acid or with pressure canning. Their advice: do not can them, and freeze them if you want to keep them [11].
• University of Wisconsin Extension says not to use white-fleshed peaches or nectarines in any of its canning recipes [12].

None of these sources gives a tested white peach jam, and none gives an amount of lemon that makes one safe to can. So: freeze white peaches, and make your canned jam from yellow peaches. If you cook a white peach jam anyway, it is untested; keep it in the refrigerator or freezer and never store it on the shelf. The full list of fruits with this problem is on fruits that need extra acid.

Processing peach jam

The NCHFP peach jams use this chart, in sterilized jars [5] [6], the same 5, 10 and 15 minute steps USDA gives for its jams and jellies [4]:

Peach is a low-pectin fruit, and NCHFP prefers sterilized jars for such fruit because the longer process needed for unsterilized jars can weaken the gel [3]. Sterilize, and use the short time. If you do not sterilize, see the unsterilized-jar chart on how long to process jam.

Selling peach jam

Peach is a federal Group II fruit, so jam sold under the standard name needs at least 45 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar [13]. Peach is also one of the fruits named in the federal fruit butter standard [14], which matters if you are thinking of peach butter for market; see apple butter and other fruit butters.

Peach's neighbors on the stone fruit shelf

Apricots take nearly the same approach, with lemon and a no-pectin option, on apricot jam. For peach blended with blueberries, the tested spiced blueberry-peach jam is on blueberry jam.

References

1. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Jellied Product Ingredients, accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/jellied-product-ingredients/
2. University of Wisconsin Extension, Ingham, Making Jams, Jellies & Fruit Preserves (B2909), undated. https://iowa.extension.wisc.edu/files/2021/08/Making-Jams-Jellies-Fruit-Preserves-B2909.pdf
3. National Center for Home Food Preservation, General Information on Canning Jams, Jellies, and Marmalades, accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/general-information-on-canning-jams-jellies-and-marmalades/
4. USDA, Complete Guide to Home Canning, Guide 7: Preparing and Canning Jams and Jellies, rev. 2015. https://nchfp.uga.edu/papers/guide/GUIDE07_HomeCan_rev0715.pdf
5. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Peach Jam with Powdered Pectin, June 2005, adapted from USDA Home and Garden Bulletin No. 56 (1982). https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams/peach-jam-pectin/
6. NC State Extension (copy of NCHFP recipes), Preserving Peaches: Recipes from NCHFP (Peach Jam with Liquid Pectin; Ginger-Peach Jam), 2015. https://foodsafety.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Preserving-Peaches-Recipes-from-NCHFP.pdf
7. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Making Jam without Added Pectin (Table 1 and doneness tests), accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/making-jam-without-added-pectin/
8. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Causes and Possible Solutions for Problems with Jellied Fruit Products, accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/causes-and-possible-solutions-for-problems-with-jellied-fruit-products/
9. National Center for Home Food Preservation, General Jams and Jellies FAQs, accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/faqs/general-jams-and-jellies/category/faq-jams-and-jellies
10. Penn State Extension, Hassani, Why Some Old Canning Recipes Are No Longer Safe, updated September 13, 2024. https://extension.psu.edu/why-some-old-canning-recipes-are-no-longer-safe
11. UC Master Food Preserver Program, Preserve It: Canning Basics; (Not) Canning White Peaches, July 2025. https://ucanr.edu/sites/default/files/2022-06/PIP-White%20Peaches-revJuly2025.pdf
12. University of Wisconsin Extension, Canning Fruits Safely (B0430), rev. June 2020. https://iowa.extension.wisc.edu/files/2021/08/Canning-Fruits-Safely-B0430.pdf
13. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 150.160, Canned fruit preserves and jams (Cornell LII text, current). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.160
14. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 150.110, Fruit butter (Cornell LII text, current). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.110