That is my simple selfmade plum jam recipe made with recent plums, aromatic cardamom pods, and sugar. Three elements are all you want, and no pectin! I’ll additionally present you easy methods to protect this juicy, old school plum jam utilizing my grandmother’s no-fuss canning methodology.
Plum jam makes an awesome addition to cheese boards, and I really like spreading it on the whole lot from dinner rolls with butter to silver greenback pancakes.
Enjoyable reality: We now have slightly fruit orchard in our yard. It’s the place we develop pears, peaches, quince, grapes (that I stomp myself to make wine!), and the most important, juiciest plums. Once I’m not baking these plums into plum cake, I’m turning them into jam utilizing my household’s plum jam recipe.
This selfmade plum jam is so particular. It’s spiced with cardamom, tangy-sweet, and spreadable. Excellent with a piece of brie cheese and heat selfmade bread on the facet.
Why I Know You’ll Love This Plum Jam Recipe
- No peeling or pectin. You don’t have to peel the plums or add pectin to your jam.
- Newbie-friendly. It is a nice small-batch plum jam recipe for learners. My grandmother taught me easy methods to make her strawberry jam utilizing an analogous methodology. It’s all however foolproof.
- No particular tools. You don’t want any water baths or preserving pans for this recipe. You’ll need canning jars should you plan to protect your jam.
- Canning is optionally available. I embrace my fast methodology for canning jam at dwelling utilizing the oven. It’s an optionally available step, however nice should you’d wish to protect this plum jam for pantry storage, since this recipe makes about 4 to five cups of jam.
Collect Your Jam Elements
I’ve made this plum jam with solely recent plums, sugar, and water, and it’s scrumptious! At some point, I added cardamom pods, and the odor was heavenly. They’ve stayed a part of my recipe ever since.
- Contemporary Ripe Plums – Choose up plums from the farmer’s market, or, should you’re fortunate sufficient to develop your individual, you possibly can decide them recent. Nearly any sort of plum works on this recipe. Japanese plums are sometimes what you’ll discover in shops, and Damson plums are my private favorites for jam. However you may make wild plum jam or use any accessible selection.
- Cardamom Pods – I choose utilizing complete inexperienced cardamom pods. If cardamom isn’t accessible, you possibly can substitute the pods with a tablespoon of nutmeg, or this plum jam recipe nonetheless tastes superb with out it.
- Sugar – Many jam recipes go pound-for-pound with their fruit and sugar (i.e., 1 pound of sugar for each 1 pound of plums within the recipe). I exploit much less sugar in my plum jam; nonetheless, should you like a sweeter jam, be happy so as to add as much as 1 further cup of sugar.
Non-compulsory Add-ins and Variations
- Lemon juice. Lemon juice will help thicken and protect the jam whereas brightening up the flavors. I don’t embrace it, however you possibly can add as much as 1 giant lemon’s value of juice to your jam, to style.
- Heat spices. Add recent or floor ginger, or make a spiced plum jam with cinnamon and cloves. You possibly can pressure out elements like cinnamon sticks and complete cloves with the cardamom pods.
- Fruit blends. Strive plum and apricot jam, or make plum and apple jam with sweet-tart apples, like Granny Smith and Honeycrisp.
- Honey. You possibly can sweeten this plum jam with honey as a substitute of sugar. You’ll want barely much less, about ¾ cup of honey for each 1 cup of sugar.
Serving Recommendations
Plum jam goes nicely with cheese, desserts, and breakfast. I really like smearing recent plum jam over slices of zucchini bread with a cortado espresso within the morning, or I’ll use it as a topping for pancakes. However don’t cease there. These are just some simple methods to make use of plum jam:
- As an expansion. Unfold this selfmade plum jam on toast, croissants, or biscuits. Strive it with a grilled cheese or feta-stuffed Macedonian dinner rolls (kifli) for a candy and savory combo!
- Baking recipes. Plum jam makes a scrumptious filling for desserts like muffins, kolacky cookies, and muffins.
- Cheese boards. Candy-tart plum jam is a good cheese board pairing with gentle and sharp cheeses like goat cheese, gorgonzola, cream cheese, brie, and cheddar.
- As a glaze for meats. Use your plum jam in savory recipes, like pork medallions or roast pork loin brushed with plum jam glaze.
- Stockpot – I exploit a heavy 6-quart stockpot. You possibly can prepare dinner jam in the identical stockpot you’d use to boil pasta (nothing fancy).
- Picket Spoon – For stirring. Picket spoons have antibacterial properties and don’t conduct warmth, which may have an effect on the feel of the jam.
- Colander – For straining the plum combination.
- Canning Jars with Lids – Since I’ll present you easy methods to sterilize jars within the oven, the jars should be oven-proof.
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Put together the plums. Place the rinsed and destemmed plums in a 6-quart stockpot. Stir within the water and the cardamom pods.
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Boil. Cook dinner over medium warmth and convey to a boil; cut back the warmth to low and simmer for 1 hour. Take away from warmth and permit the plums to utterly cool.
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Pressure. Place a colander on high of a big, deep bowl. As soon as the plums have cooled, pour them into the colander. Press the plums together with your palms or a big picket spoon towards the colander to pressure them.
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Squeeze out the pulp. Choose up the remaining fruit slurry within the colander by the handfuls and squeeze the pulp, skins, and cardamom seeds into the bowl with the syrup, retaining the pits and cardamom shells after which discarding them.
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Cook dinner the jam. Put the plum combination again into the stockpot, stir within the sugar, style for sweetness, alter if wanted, and convey the combination to a boil over medium-low warmth. Flip the warmth all the way down to low and let it simmer for 3 hours, or till the combination has thickened. Stir it each 20 to half-hour.
Canning Plum Jam
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Prep. Preheat oven to 200°F.
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Warmth the jars. Wash the jars with cleaning soap and water, dry them, and place them mouth facet up, with out lids, within the oven for 10 minutes.
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Sterilize the lids. Sterilize the lids by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Enable to dry.
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Fill the jars. Spoon the new plum jam into the new, sterilized jars and seal. Enable jars to chill to room temperature.
Storage. Retailer canned plum jam in a cool, darkish pantry for six–12 months. As soon as opened, refrigerate and use inside 2 weeks, checking for any indicators of spoilage earlier than serving.
Serving: 0.25cup | Energy: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 0g | Fats: 0g | Saturated Fats: 0g | Ldl cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 139mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 8.2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Dietary data is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values could fluctuate in keeping with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Tips on how to Make Plum Jam
It takes a little bit of endurance to make plum jam, however my household’s jam recipe is as foolproof because it will get. The range does many of the work. Plus, the extra jams and preserves you make from scratch, the higher you’ll be at it. Right here’s a take a look at the steps to set your self up for achievement:
- Put together the plums. Wash the plums nicely and take away the stems. Don’t pit the plums at this stage. Relatively, you’ll boil the fruit and press out the pits later. So, add the plums complete to your stockpot.
- Boil the plums. Subsequent, pour water over the plums and stir within the cardamom pods. Deliver the pot to a boil over medium warmth, then decrease the warmth and simmer the plums for 1 hour. Take them off the warmth afterward and permit the plums to chill utterly.
- Pressure. When the plums are cool, pressure them over a colander set over a deep bowl. Now, for the messy bit! Utilizing your palms, press the plums down by the colander. Then, squeeze the leftover pulp by the handful. You wish to press the pulp, skins, and cardamom seeds into the bowl beneath, whereas leaving the plum pits and cardamom shells within the colander to be discarded.
- Cook dinner the jam. Return your plum combination to the stockpot. Now, you’ll stir within the sugar and convey the jam to a boil over medium-low warmth. Then, decrease the warmth and permit the jam to prepare dinner for 3 hours, stirring each half-hour or so, till thick.
How Lengthy to Cook dinner Jam
The easiest way to inform when your plum jam is prepared is to carry out a setting take a look at. Chill a plate within the freezer. Dollop a spoonful of jam on the chilly plate and let it sit for a minute. Then, gently go the tip of your finger by the jam. If it wrinkles and gels, it’s prepared! If the jam appears free and liquid, it’s an indication that it must prepare dinner longer. Retest the jam each jiffy till it passes.
Canning Plum Jam, Step-by-Step
As soon as the jam has thickened to the best consistency, you possibly can select the way you’d wish to retailer it. With out canning, recent selfmade plum jam lasts within the fridge for about one month. For long-term pantry storage, right here’s easy methods to protect plum jam in jars:
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 200°F. Wash the jars totally with cleaning soap and water, after which dry them.
- Warmth the jars. Organize the jars contained in the oven, mouths going through up and lids off. Warmth the jars for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, sterilize the lids. Pour boiling water over the jar lids in a heatproof bowl. Afterward, permit the lids to dry.
- Can the jam. When you’re prepared, spoon the new plum jam into the new, sterilized jars and seal them tightly. Go away the jam jars to chill to room temperature.
Our household pantry is stocked with jams, fruit preserves, and purple pepper relish yearly! Correctly sealed and preserved plum jam will final in a cool, dry place, like a pantry, for as much as 12 months. In fact, at all times examine your jars whenever you open them. If one thing smells off or appears discolored, discard the jar for security’s sake.
Storage and Shelf-Life
- Pantry storage. Canned plum jam may be stored within the pantry out of direct warmth or daylight for 6-12 months.
- Refrigerate after opening. Hold any cans of jam refrigerated after opening. Plum jam lasts within the fridge for a few weeks. All the time verify the jam for indicators of spoilage earlier than serving.