Got a mixture of purple damsons and green plums from the allotment and thought I would try making a plum jam with them. Bought a new preserve book whilst we were on holiday called Food in Jars which had a nice recipe. Boiled up the plums for 5 minutes to soften them then sieved them to get rid of all the skin and stones. Put them through a strainer to get rid of all the pulp so it would be a nice smooth jam. Then out with the jam pan and boiled them up with 3/4 of their weight in jam sugar. The recipe said to use granulated sugar and liquid pectin but the jam sugar does the same thing. Boiled it until it was syrupy then added the zest and juice of one lemon then boiled it until setting point. Result = nice, tart, deep red jam. Made 5 jars and enough in a bowl for breakfast tomorrow with crumpets! Lots more plums coming on the trees so hopefully will do some more.
(Rhubarb crumble in the background made with allotment rhubarb of course!)
Update on 26/8/12 - made some more plum jam since this entry, with the yellow plums from the communal fruit trees. Made loads, 6 jars of lovely yellow jam and its really yummy. Made some jam tarts with the bit of jam that couldnt fit in the jars and they were really fruity. Also made 3 jars of bramble jelly. Running out of room on my preserve shelf!
Your plum jam looks very tasty!
ReplyDeleteMmmm, sounds delicious. We haven't got single plum ripening this year due to cold weather and no insects flying when they were in flower.
ReplyDeleteJust wish more people in our house ate jam! At this rate I will have cupboards full of the stuff!
ReplyDeleteHa! I had one plum on a dwarf tree I planted last year on the side of the drive. I've nurtured it, and I've watched it, and last week it was ripe. I'd looked at it one morning setting off to work and thought 'tonight, I'm going to pick that and share it with my hubby'.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got home from work the plum was gone!!!
We think it may have been the postman!!!
I'm hoping to use your recipe next year!!!
Thats sad! We picked another bucketful of yellow plums today, enough for a fruit bowl full for snacking on, and enough for either some wine or more jam.....
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