By August. Back-to-school season even in a pandemic, even in a year when schools are struggling to figure out whether and how to be in person or remote or some combination, even when the ordinary structure of the calendar feels both more necessary and more strange than usual. The rhythm of the year continues: spring, summer, August, the school-bell feeling even when the bells are not ringing. August smells like new pencils and collard greens and the end of summer stone fruit and the beginning of fall planning. I have been in the kitchen every day this month, as I always am in August, doing the late-summer canning that Bernice always did—the tomatoes, the pickles, the preserves—but this year it has a different quality, the doing of it. I am doing Bernice's August work without Bernice. I am the oldest woman now. I am the one who holds the knowledge.
Bernice was the oldest woman in the Simms family kitchen tradition for my entire life. My whole life she was the keeper of the knowledge, the one who knew how much vinegar, the one whose hands tested the temperature by feel and were right. Now she is gone and I am the one who knows how much vinegar, and my hands are the ones that test the temperature by feel, and there is no one older to ask. I am the top of the chain now. The chain goes down from me and it is my job to make sure it goes forward—to Destiny and CJ and someday their children, to the cooking class women, to the blog readers who are learning to cook in kitchens I have never seen by following words I wrote at a kitchen table in Forestdale, Alabama. The chain goes forward. I am the keeper now. God, Bernice. I am the keeper now.
These peach-blueberry preserves are the August work — the jar I come back to every year because Bernice always made them, and now I make them, and someday Destiny will make them. Stone fruit at the end of its season, blueberries just holding on, the whole late-summer sweetness sealed into a jar that will sit on a shelf through the cold months ahead. If I am the keeper now, then this is the recipe I keep. Every jar I put up this August is a jar I’m putting up for her — and for whoever comes after me.
Peach-Blueberry Preserves
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes | Servings: Makes 4 half-pint jars
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped (about 4 medium peaches)
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Prepare jars. Sterilize four half-pint canning jars, lids, and bands by boiling for 10 minutes. Keep warm until ready to fill.
- Combine fruit and sugar. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the chopped peaches, blueberries, and sugar. Stir well to coat the fruit. Let stand 10 minutes until the sugar begins to dissolve and the fruit releases its juices.
- Add remaining ingredients. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
- Cook the preserves. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring often, for 30—40 minutes, until the mixture thickens and reaches the gel stage (220°F on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount placed on a chilled plate wrinkles when pushed with a finger).
- Skim and fill. Remove from heat. Skim any foam from the surface. Carefully ladle the hot preserves into the prepared warm jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims clean with a damp cloth.
- Seal and process. Apply lids and bands finger-tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars and let cool, undisturbed, on a towel for 12—24 hours. Check seals before storing. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used within 3 weeks.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 45 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 0mg