Saturday 27 August 2011

Plum Jam

Was visiting an elderly friend the other day and all her plums on her tree were ripe, so she said to me take some with you as they will just fall to the ground and rot, so I picked a few bags full.

Made plum crumble the other night, and eeh by gum they were sour!! despite the sugar I put in, but I just had some home made ice-cream with it and it was a very pleasant change. Now there is only so much plum crumble you can eat and I have approx 12lb of plums left, so decided to make jam.

Basic Recipe

4lb plums
4lb sugar
10oz water

prepared plums in the pan


Cut plums in half and remove stones. Put into a large pan with the water and boil for approx 20 mins. (suppose to check for pectin levels at this point but had no meths in the house so couldn't).
Remove pan from heat and slowly stir in warmed sugar ( had in oven on a tray at 60 oC), stirring it in slowly so that it dissolves before you place back on the heat.







simmering, ready for the sugar
keep checking the temperature
Bring to the boil, stir and simmer stirring occasionally until jam reaches 220 oC, mine took about 40 mins.









waxed discs placed on top
Leave  to cool for 5 mins and then put into prepared jars. Cover with wax discs, which curl up on themselves like the fortune telling fish you use to get in Christmas crackers,  and leave to cool overnight. Place cellophane covers on, label, store and enjoy.


labelled and ready to store

2 comments:

  1. I'm not a huge fan of plum...but I wonder if this would work with peaches or strawberries as well??

    WM

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes it would but you would need to add pectin as they are both low in it, or combine with a high pectin fruit (eg apple and strawberry).
    Here is a table for it. http://www.pickleandpreserve.co.uk/index.php/blog/pectin-levels-in-fruit.html
    If you make some send me a link and I will post it on here for you.

    ReplyDelete

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