Can frozen peaches be made into jam or other things?

Question

I have over ripe peaches. I have scaled them and pitted them and they are in lemon water.

• Can I freeze them to make jam later?
• Can I put them in the refrigerator to make jam later?

Answer 1

You absolutely can make jam from frozen fruit.

Freezing is like "stopping time" (or at least slowing it down almost to a stop) for the frozen food. Freezing water breaks cell walls, that's why thawed fruit is mushy, but so does boiling when making jam, so no problem at all here. You can also freeze leftover fruit before it spoils and combine various fruits in your jam or make flavour pairings with fruits that are in season at different times.

You can either puree your fruit and freeze it in a ziplock bag or flat container or freeze chunks on a tray, then transfer to bags. Good wrapping is essential, as with all frozen foods.

• Personally, I often freeze puree because a) it needs less freezer space and b) we prefer smooth jam. I pre-meassure one batch and cook the jam when I have time.
• Freezing individual pieces, on the other hand, has the benefit that you can choose later how much fruit you need for a recipe. This is also good if you haven't decided about your recipe yet or love to combine flavours. These pieces are also usable for other dishes.

Storing your prepared fruit in the refrigerator is not without risk. Overripe fruit spoils quickly, even in the refrigerator and "later" quickly can become "too late". So unless you are absolutely sure that you will cook them tomorrow and they have no "dubious" (e.g. mushy, about to get moldy) spots, just freeze them.

Answer 2

I don't know about jam specifically, but yes to other things. The standard thing would be to freeze them, and then use them for smoothies, but you can also use them for instant sorbet if you have a food processor:

• 2 cups of frozen fruit
• 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum
• a cup or two of fruit juice
• maybe some syrup or extra sugar

Put the fruit into the food processor, and pulse until you've gotten it all down to small bits. (everything under about 1cm (3/8")). Add the xanthan, pulse to mix a couple of times, then turn it on and pour in the fruit juice. Add more 'til you get to the consistency you like. Taste it. If it's not sweet enough, add some sugar (heavy syrup works best, but I've tossed in powdered sugar or superfine sugar ... regular granulated might work) and then blend again.

If you take it past what you'd like in consistency, just set it in the freezer for an hour or two.