Saturday, June 28, 2008

Golden Plum Jam



Yesterday I made jam for the first time. I've been wanting to learn how but was utterly scared of trying by myself.

A friend from church invited us over so we could make jam with her. The whole thing is pretty easy but there are details that I wouldn't have known about had I attempted to do it alone, so I'm really glad I had someone show me. Now we have enough golden plum jam to last us for a year, at least. I want to learn how to make other types of jam too. It would be nice to have something to put in all of my glass jars and not just use them for decoration.

1- Pick the plums. We literally picked these from the ground. This tree is out of control. there are so many plums on it. Last year my friend said she made over 100 jars of jam from this tree alone.



2- After picking the plums we washed them and pitted them. They were so soft it was easy to do with just our fingers. After we chopped them up and placed it in a bowl that measured 6 cups.




3- We placed the plums in a large sauce pan with 1/2 cup of water and brought it to a boil. (It is truly boiling when you mix it and it doesn't stop boiling)




4- Once it is boiling you add one packet of pectin and mix until it is boiling. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
5- add 8 cups sugar and mix until it is boiling. Make sure it boils for a whole minute
8- take the pan off the stove top and remove any scum that accumulates on top of the mixture
9- add the jam to sterile jars
10- before you place the lids make sure that there isn't spilled jam on the rim of the jars. Place the lids without touching the rim and close tightly.
11- flip the jars upside down to get the air out for about 5 minutes
12- then flip it back up and let it stand for a couple hours without moving the jars so that the jam can set.




serve on...well anything you like. Today I'm going to try and use it on chicken. I bet this would be really good on the baked brie I like to make.

Enjoy.

5 comments:

  1. I've always wanted to try this...but it always seems so labor intensive! worth it though, if you come out with jars of lovely jam to store and give away. i want to do a lemon curd recipe like this.

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  2. hey lady, I haven't seen you in so long, but I still stalk your blog. and dang, your jelly is killing me. That looks so labor intensive, yet a masterpiece of food beauty! You make me hungry.

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  3. Yummm!!! I'm going to start making jam as soon as I get to hawaii! On my list of to do's!

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  4. Yay! I've been wanting to make jam for forever. Thanks for the instructions. I remember Grandma Mimi setting the jam upside down in boiling water after she put the lid on it. Did you guys have to do that?

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  5. Chelsea, we did put it upside down but not on boiling water. Just on a pan with boiling water.
    i want to make more.

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