BEST PLUM JAM EVER!
This is a bumper year for soft, summer fruits, and garden vegetables. These plums are good for jam. . .not so good for eating because all of the flavor is in the very tart skin. Each morning, I go on an Easter Egg hunt, looking for the plums that have turned red in the last 24 hours and dropped on the ground.
Next I harvest the plums that are mostly red or turning pink from the tree. For jam, it doesn’t seem to matter if the plums have turned red/pink. I’ll add a few yellow ones if I’m short of 8 pounds of fruit. This variety is too tart to eat fresh in either case.
Next I harvest the plums that are mostly red or turning pink from the tree. For jam, it doesn’t seem to matter if the plums have turned red/pink. I’ll add a few yellow ones if I’m short of 8 pounds of fruit. This variety is too tart to eat fresh in either case.
Place canning lids in boiling water and let stand until ready to use. This will help prevent the skim of mold that can grow on the very top surface of jam that sits in storage for a long time. (But if it does form, skim it off and enjoy anyway.) There is too much sugar in jam for it to spoil in the jar.
Rinse the plums, make sure there are no stems, and then cook down to soup consistency. Use a pressure cooker or a pot with a lid for simmering. Pictured is my new favorite appliance! It’s an Cuisinart electric pressure cooker. I put the plums in with about ¼ cup of water, set the pressure to high, set the timer for 15 minutes, pop on the lid and then go do something else. I can leave the house, run an errand, take a nap, weed my garden. Previously, the one flaw of cooking with a pressure cooker is that it requires close monitoring. Not any more! It turns itself off when the 15 minutes is up and keeps the contents warm until I remember to proceed to the next step. It replaces a rice cooker, (brown rice takes 15 minutes of pressuring) . . .it does everything that a small pressure cooker can do, but it’s easier!) Because it’s timed, you can entirely replace a crock-pot,(slow cooker). But enough of the unpaid infomercial!
Do NOT pour off the liquid. It’s pure plum juice and FULL of flavor!
Once the cooked plums are cool enough to handle, I grab the plums in a clean fist and squeeze the pulp away from the seeds. When I have all the seeds out, the fruit is thick liquid and slightly more textured than applesauce.
If using liquid pectin, cut open the pouch and stand in a cup of hot water to loosen up while you bring the jam to a boil.
I usually double my recipe, (because I have a big, deep pot). I measure out 9 cups of the pulp into my cooking pot.
Ready for sugar
If using powdered pectin (purchased in the canning department at Walmart) add it to the fruit and bring to a boil before adding the sugar. Add 15 cups of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons of good quality vanilla and two teaspoons of ground cinnamon. (Trust me! Though the vanilla and cinnamon are optional, they’ll make it an “artisan” jam that is so delicious, you’ll be sending me love notes!)
Bring to full rolling boil on medium high heat, stirring constantly. I use a great big grilling spatula for stirring to keep my hand away from the heat. I could use an oven mitt. When the jam is boiling add liquid pectin, and stir in well.
Use either liquid pectin (more reliable in my opinion) or powdered.
Cook jam on full boil for four minutes and turn off. It should be thickening on the spatula somewhat, though still dripping off.
If foam on the jam bothers you, add a teaspoon of butter or margarine with the sugar. I like the foam, so I leave out the butter.
Pour/ladle hot jam into clean jars. This recipe will make about 9 pints. I’m using quarts because we eat a lot of jam. I bottle it in pints for gifts.
Wipe rims of jars with a damp cloth or paper towel to be sure there’s nothing on the rim to interfere with a good seal. Place the flat canning lid and tighten with the band. Carefully turn the jar upside down until warm to the touch.
My left thumb is shaped more like a toe. Are you jealous?
Turn right side up. Rinse away any stickiness from the bottle and store in a cool, dark place until you serve it triumphantly to your mother-in-law at Thanksgiving. . .(at least TRY
to save one jar! It’s so hard to resist!)
to save one jar! It’s so hard to resist!)
If you’re reading the instructions on the pectin package, you’ll notice that I’m using only half the called-for pectin. Plums (particularly the skins) are very high in pectin and more than make up for the shortage.
Did you know that you can combine fruits to make jams? Just use half of each of two recipes (from inside the pectin package) and get unusual and delicious combinations. Try Blackberry –Peach or blackberry-plum for starters! Raspberry-nectarine will knock your socks off, too! But you’ll LOVE this plum jam, too.
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