Canning & Preserving: Plum Jam Recipe

Grandma called. It's time to go pick the plums What I need is a good basic plum jam recipe. I'm really wanting something with just plums and not mixed fruit. I can find plenty on the www, but I would like something proven. Sometimes the recipes on a lot of the recipe sites are, quite frankly...bunk.

i make plum jam thusly:

start by putting a couple of metal spoons in the freezer. get your jars, lids, and rings into the canning pot to heat up.

wash and pit the plums. you can remove skins if you wish--i usually do not.

chop roughly for a chunky jam, chop finer for a less chunky jam. put in a blender for a smooth jam.

for every cup of chopped plums i use 1/2 cup of sugar, and for every cup of blended jam i use 2/3 cup of sugar. heat in a pan on the stove until it reaches the gel stage--test for this by dipping one of the frozen spoons in the jam and see how it reacts--when it is thick enough to hold together, it's done. take the pan off the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice per cup of jam.

ladle the jam into hot jars, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes or for the correct amount of time for your altitude.

PS: i often add flavorings to my jams. for plum i like vanilla, mint, or various basils (my personal favorite). if you add flavorings, add them when the jam is done and off the heat, otherwise the flavor can become scorched.

Do you not add any pectin Rowena?

no, not usually. sometimes the jam doesn't set as tight as other times. in those cases, i call it syrup.

Did my jam. I just bought a box of Certo and followed the recipe enclosed with that for plum jam. It was really easy. The plums are excellent and the jam turned out great. This was just a test batch. I will probably do 50 more 1/2 pints.

50 more jars???? That's too much let me store some of that for you
Seriously, really nice job there.

Thank you! Yes, they're only half pints so fairly small, and a lot of them will be given away.

well done, RoOsTeR! you are going to be very popular with the neighbors.

rowena___. wrote:well done, RoOsTeR! you are going to be very popular with the neighbors.

+1 if I send you a SASE will you send me some? just kidding of course. I need to go on a fruit hunt.

The plums are so good. I look forward to this time every year! I can't believe I've waited this long to make jam with them though. It's too easy and sooo good We usually eat tons of them fresh. I would also pit them and pack in syrup and freeze in containers. They are actually really good like that too.

Self serving moment:

YUM!

look at the color! it's beautiful!

do you have a breadmaker with a jam setting? if so, you can just toss some chopped plums and sugar in, press the button, and when you hear the beep you fill your jars and put them in the canner. i'll sometimes start a small batch like that while making breakfast, then after i've cleaned up i can put the jars in the 4th burner pot. that way i can process a bit of this, a bit of that, as i have time. once a week i'll go thru the fridge and whatever looks like it's ready for processing gets put in the breadmaker. it's like the stone soup of jams.