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Tuesday 23 August 2011

Wild Plum Jam

I'm sure you all know how to make jam - but just for the record, this is more or less what I did to turn our wild harvest into a row of golden pots of jam.

8 lb wild plums (I used yellow - it will be red next week)
8 lb of granulated sugar (no need for special jam sugar)

The plums were frozen so I put them in a large jam pan on the slow  plate of the Aga. When they thawed I moved them to the hot plate and stirred and cooked till they were soft and mushy. I then whizzed them about with a stick blender (so the stones were separated). I poured them through a large colander and wiggled and pressed until only the stones were left. I returned to the pan, added the sugar and kept on the slow plate until the sugar had dissolved. I then moved the pan to the hot plate and brought to a rolling boil. There was quite a bit of scum, which I skimmed off. I boiled for about 15 minutes and tested on a cold plate. It seemed to be setting so I poured into heated (bottom oven) jam jars and sealed with screw tops. I kept tightening the lids while the jam cooled. From the 8 pounds of fruit I got fifteen and a half jars.

I think 8 pounds of fruit is as much as I can do at once, as it did rise up to the top of the pan when boiling.

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