For those of you who don't know, my mom is The Jam Lady. She makes hundreds of jars of jams every year and sells them at an annual open house before Christmas. She also picks a lot of her own fruits, which is one of her favorite hobbies. She was once overheard saying, "Berry-picking is one of the only activities that gives me endorphins." And, as the daughter of The Jam Lady, my claim to fame is that I've never eaten store-bought jam.

I have not officially learned the art of jamming, but I've seen the process enough that I could probably do it blindfolded. This weekend, we decided to have a ladies' jam sesh. I was up at my family's cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee with my parents, one of my roommates, her sister and her mom. Quick backstory: My roommate is my old friend from Connecticut, where I was born. Our moms met at a bread-making class when they were pregnant with us. So, we were friends since birth and in the same playgroup. I moved away from CT when I was 4 years old but we stayed in touch since we were family friends. About 20 years later, we became roommates in Cambridge!

In Connecticut, we lived near an awesome farm, Belltown Orchards. They sell tons of fresh fruit and have a great deal on huge bags of seconds (the reject fruit that's actually not that bad, but really cheap). So, my mom often requests some bags of seconds when she's going to see her CT friends. This weekend, my roommate's mom brought her at least 50 pounds total of peaches and plums.

Here is The Jam Lady posing with her bounty:

We decided to make a batch of Peach Jam and a batch of my absolute favorite flavor, Cinnamon Peach Plum. The instructions are pretty much the same, but slightly different with the extra plum and cinnamon in the second recipe. Here they are:

Peach Jam

MAKES EIGHT 8OZ (1/2 PINT) JARS

Ingredients:

4 cups peaches, peeled & chopped (we used white peaches)
7 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 3oz pouch of Certo Liquid Fruit Pectin

Directions:

To sterilize the jars and screw bands, put them in a large pot and cover with water. Bring them to a boil for 10 minutes while preparing the fruit.

Dump the peaches in a food processor and pulse a few times to get a coarsely chopped but not quite pureed texture. Dump the peaches, sugar, and lemon juice into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring occasionally.

Remove the jars from the pot of water with a jar lifter or tongs and transfer them to a dish towel laid out on the counter. The jars should be placed on the counter face up, ready to have jam poured into them. A little water in the jars won’t hurt, according to the Jam Lady.

Bring peach mixture to boil that can not be stirred down. Add the pouch of Certo and boil for one minute. Move the pot to a cool burner and skim off the foam with a large metal spoon. This is mainly for appearance so it doesn’t look bubbly on the top once it sets.

Meanwhile, sterilize the lids in the pot of leftover hot water, not boiling, because it will damage the rubber. Leave them in the water for 5 minutes. My mom uses this handy lid holder for this part:

Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars. Fill to 1/4 inch from the top. If the jars are a little messy after pouring, wipe the rims and screw part off for sealing.

Place a lid on top of each jar. Screw a screw band on each, tightly but not overly tight.

To seal the jars, place the full jars in a large pot of water with a canning rack on the bottom (the jars can’t touch the bottom of the pot) and bring it to a boil over high heat. Boil for 5 minutes.

Remove the jars with the jar lifter and let cool on a dish towel. Don’t touch them for a while! Once cool, tap the top of each jar to make sure it’s sealed - if the metal moves up and down and makes a popping sound then it means it didn’t seal properly.

Cinnamon Peach Plum Jam

MAKES NINE 8OZ (1/2 PINT) JARS

Ingredients:

2 cups of peeled, chopped peaches
2 1/4 cups of prepared plums
7 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the plums, bring 1 and 1/2 pounds of plums and 1/4 cup water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Measure out 2 1/4 cups of the prepared plums (you can freeze extras if you want). We used these lovely Methley plums, which are bite-sized:

To sterilize the jars and screw bands, put them in a large pot and cover with water. Bring them to a boil for 10 minutes while preparing the fruit.

Dump the peaches in a food processor and pulse a few times to get a coarsely chopped but not quite pureed texture. Dump the prepared plums, peaches, sugar, and lemon juice into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring occasionally.

Remove the jars from the pot of water with a jar lifter or tongs and transfer them to a dish towel laid out on the counter. The jars should be placed on the counter face up, ready to have jam poured into them. A little water in the jars won’t hurt, according to the Jam Lady.

Bring peach/plum mixture to boil that can not be stirred down. Add the pouch of Certo and boil for one minute. Move the pot to a cool burner and skim off the foam with a large metal spoon. This is mainly for appearance so it doesn’t look bubbly on the top once it sets. Stir in the cinnamon.

Meanwhile, sterilize the lids in the pot of leftover hot water, not boiling, because it will damage the rubber. Leave them in the water for 5 minutes.

Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars. Fill to 1/4 inch from the top. If the jars are a little messy after pouring, wipe the rims and screw part off for sealing.

Place a lid on top of each jar. Screw a screw band on each, tightly but not overly tight.

To seal the jars, place the full jars in a large pot of water with a canning rack on the bottom (the jars can’t touch the bottom of the pot) and bring it to a boil over high heat. Boil for 5 minutes.

Remove the jars with the jar lifter and let cool on a dish towel. Don’t touch them for a while! Once cool, tap the top of each jar to make sure it’s sealed - if the metal moves up and down and makes a popping sound then it means it didn’t seal properly.

Sometimes, my mom has a little extra jam that can't fit in a jar, so she puts it in a bowl for people to use on toast. Or, to just eat with a spoon, which is my preference.