I hadn't intended to make plum jam this year. In fact, I hadn't made it before. But we went down to see our friends Katrina and Vaughn to see if Vaughn was available to come wire the copper light in John's Hut, and I took them a pot of my freshly made strawberry jam.
Turns out they have three plum trees, and were in a surplus fruit mode. Katrina was planning to make plum jam but had to get a wooden spoon first. The next day they arrived to assess the lighting project and deliver a box of plums.
While making plum jam is easy, it takes awhile to halve and stone the fruit then cook it to a soft pulp (with water added) before adding the sugar. (For a beginning jam maker, I would recommend starting with either strawberry or raspberry for this reason.)
The recipe is:
2 kg plums, halved and stoned
1 1/2 cups water
7 cups sugar
After adding and dissolving the sugar in the boiled pulp (and it takes awhile to get to this stage), boil briskly for 15 minutes or until setting point. Pour jam into hot jars and seal.
I just may not be a plum jam afficionado, this tastes pretty sweet to me. If I make it again I think I'd use less sugar to see if it would still work but taste a bit more tart. People we've given this to seem to like it, or so they say.
I had some surplus plums (and a shortage of jars) so made Katrina and Vaughn a plum crumble (see my previous post "In Praise of Fruit Crumble" for the basic recipe). I delivered it warm to their doorstep with a pot of plum jam. This is the way it works in the country, I like that.
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