The separation between a breakfast or dinner person doesn’t exist with me, I am both! I can’t function without my (late) breakfast and I don’t want to end my day without a nice dinner. Although I don’t start my day with a table full of bread, cheese, vegetables, jam, fruits and coffee early in the morning, I enjoy this treat at around eleven. Over the years I found that this is the best time for me to start eating, before that I just enjoy my big mug of green Sencha tea with lemon. Every day, that’s my rhythm! I don’t believe in universal eating rules, our bodies are unique, our personalities are and so are our eating habits. A vegan diet might work perfectly for one person but others feel the need to eat meat, or dairy products. It’s best to listen to what your body tells you, if a certain food leaves you with a bad feeling or makes you tired, chuck it out. A slice of bread with butter calms me down and makes me feel good. This is definitely food that makes me happy, and at breakfast, I like to spread it with my homemade jam.

I have a big selection of jams in my pantry, jars filled with strawberries, tangerines, different kinds of orange and plum jam, blackberry jam and now there is a new one! I stocked up on peach jam which I made with white, flat vineyard (or galaxy) peaches. This jam is like honey, very peachy and aromatic, not thick and stiff but smooth and a bit runny with chunky pieces of fruits. You could also use yellow peaches but I find the white more intense in flavour and that’s what a good jam needs, apart from very ripe fruits!

White Vineyard Peach Jam

When you cook jam you should always use a tall pot to prevent the jam from boiling over. The fruits will be two to three times as high when they’ve reached boiling point! My pot is 24cm / 9.5″ high and 20cm / 8″ wide.

For 3-4 medium sized jars you need

white, flat vineyard (or galaxy) peaches 1kg/ 2 1/4 pounds
granulated sugar 600g / 1 1/4 pounds
juice of 1/2 big lemon
a pinch of salt

Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water for 5 minutes. Dunk the rims of the jars in spirit and wash out the lids, wash the ladle (you will use to fill the jars) with the alcohol as well. If you can get a thick foil (thicker than cling film), cut out 3-4 circles roughly the size of the jars and put into the spirit as well.

Put the fruits, sugar, lemon and salt in a pot and bring to the boil, stirring with a long wooden spoon every now and then. When the boiling point is reached (you should see quite a few bubbles coming up), let the jam boil for 20 minutes, carefully stirring a couple times (without burning your hand, hence the long spoon!).

Take the pot off the heat and fill the prepared jars with the sterilized ladle almost to the top. Cover with the circles of foil and close tightly immediately. Let the jam sit for a day (or even better for a month) before you put it on your breakfast table and store the jars in your pantry.