Plum-licious!

In my small and very young orchard, I have one plum tree.  This was the first year that it bore fruit.  Well a fruit.  It gave me one small plum.

I enjoyed eating it immensely and wished that I had more.  My dad has a young plum tree, too.  His tree gave him at least 40 plums.  I guess I have a little case of plum envy, but my dad shared his bounty with my family.

My sister-in-law has four established plum trees in her yard.  Every year they bear a lot of fruit, but she does not usually harvest that many due to worms, rot, birds, etc.  It seems that most years something gets the plums.  This year she decided to do something different.  As the plums started turning red, she picked them.

She takes a big laundry basket outside and fills it up with plums.  The fruit is still hard to the touch, but ripening.  She had so much success this year because she picked early.  The plums ripened beautifully indoors.  They turned a deep purple color and softened.

She made pint after pint of plum jam.  Then she picked her trees again.  This time she gave me the plums in her laundry basket.  I was more than ready to make some jam.

After two days of sitting in my kitchen, the plums were starting to be ripe.  My children were constantly in the basket finding ones that they could eat.  The plums tasted so good!  It is hard to tell your children to stay out of  fruit so I just resigned myself to the fact that I will make jam with whatever was left.

Plum jam is one of the easiest things that I have made.  I made four batches as the plums ripened with Jake and Clayton.  They are great helpers.  Armed with paring knives, we cut the plums away from the pits in the middle.  Every batch of jam needed 5 to 6 cups of plums.  Working together, we were done in no time.

I broke a canning rule and still had success.  It plainly states in the Ball Blue Book: The Guide to Home Canning and Freezing, ” Better success is obtained by making two separate batches of a recipe rather than doubling the size.”  I did not have enough time to make four separate batches of jam so despite the warnings I doubled my recipe.

Before I tell you how I made the jam, I want to explain about the different pectins.  There are powdered and liquid pectins.  You must use whichever one the recipe calls for.  My plum jam uses powdered pectin and my jalapeno jelly uses the liquid kind.  There are also two choices for powdered pectins.  There is the regular kind and the low sugar kind.

Sugar plays an important role in your jam/jelly.  If the recipe calls for 7 cups of sugar, you need to use that amount in order for your jam/jelly to set properly.  The Ball Blue Book states, “Sugar helps in gel formation, contributes to flavor and serves as a preserving agent.”

So what do you do if your fruit is already sweet and 7 cups of sugar will send it over the edge?  The answer is simple; use the low sugar powdered pectin.  With this pectin, you can sweeten the jam/jelly with 0 to 3 cups of sugar; therefore, the end result tastes more like the fresh fruit.  This pectin also allows the jam/jelly sets up nicely with much less sugar.

Plum Jam

10-12 cups of pitted plums
2 boxes of low-sugar pectin
2 cups of water or juice
0-6 cups of sugar (to your taste)

In a large stockpot, bring your plums, pectin, and liquid to a boil.  Allow it to boil for 5 minutes.  I did not chop up my plums and they cooked down well.  The skins almost completely disappear.  Stir occasionally while the mixture is cooking.  Add the sugar.  Since my husband likes sweet foods, I put 6 cups of sugar in my jam.  It is very sweet.  I cannot imagine putting 14 cups of sugar with the regular pectin.  Stir well and boil for 4 minutes.

Fill your hot, sterile jars with the jam.  Put on the lids and bands.  Leave a 1/4 inch of head space.  Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.  Yield: 6 pints.

I had an extra half jar of jam left over.  Since only filled jars will seal properly, I set it out on the table at lunchtime.  Everyone got a spoon and took a taste.  The jam completely disappeared.  They ate it by the spoonful.  I am telling you, this is plum-licious jam.

Tags: low-sugar pectin, pectin, plum jam

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