Created and contributed by Karen Killebrew, White Nectarine-Lavender Jam is a low-sweetener cooked jam made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener.
Notes
Note about culinary lavender: Depending on when the lavender was picked, your dry lavender flowers may vary in intensity. We grow our own, and harvest and dry the buds in late May or early June, when the flowers are just fully opened. Once we remove the flowers from the stalks, we store the buds in glass jars in a dark cabinet. When the flowers are freshly dried, simmering brings out a pretty lavender color and a more intense flavor. I suggest you try the jam in a small batch the first time to see how strong the lavender flavor is, and then adjust the amount of lavender flowers in future batches accordingly. You may also add 1-2 drops of lavender oil after simmering and steeping the fruit with the lavender if you’d like a stronger flavor.
Servings 5 cups
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons lavender buds/flowers in cheesecloth bag or tea ball. *See Note below about culinary lavender.
- ½ cup water
- 4 cups white nectarines unpeeled, chopped, and mashed (chopped to ¼” dice)
- ¼ cup lemon juice bottled
- 4 teaspoons calcium water see step #1
- ¾ cup agave syrup
- 3 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin mixed with sweetener
Instructions
- Before you begin, prepare calcium water.To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
- Wash jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jars in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan; cover and heat to a low boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in hot water until ready to use.
- Bring water and lavender to a simmer in a large pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Add mashed nectarines and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until fruit starts to release juices.
- Remove from heat. Cool in a bowl, then cover and let steep for 2-4 hours in the refrigerator. Remove lavender.
- Measure out 4 cups and return fruit to pan. If you are a little short of the 4 cups, just add some water to make 4 cups. Add 4 teaspoons of calcium water and mix well.
- Measure agave into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into agave. Set aside.
- Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-agave mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
- Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
Katy
Hey! If I were to use cane sugar for this recipe instead of agave nectar, how much would I use? Also, would I be able to swap some sort of tea, like white green tea or earl grey instead of using lavender? I am allergic to lavender. I assume you can just steep it in the same way?
Shelby Collings
Hello Katy! You can certainly use sugar in place of the agave, you will use 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar for this recipe. We have never used another “tea” for this, but we believe it should work well just steeping it like you would the lavender.
Happy jamming!
Katy
I will let you know how it goes. Peach green tea is one of my favourites. Nectarine is my favourite fruit, so I figured itd be really good with white green tea. Plus, green tea is acidic so I am sure it’ll be fine. Thank you for responding!
Katy
Oops, nevermind. Its alkaline in nature. Thought I would correct myself. Don’t want to give misinformation!!