Plum Jam with Cinnamon

Exactly one week ago today I found myself with a box of plums. It was an unexpected surprise. A good surprise, but a surprise none the less. So I made jam. Easy as that, expect not easy at all because cooking with kids is fun minus all the really miserable parts that makes it hard.

Baby Maria has a weird fascination with the window and it makes it so that I have to keep a constant eye on her. So I ergoed her. The Ergo is my baby carrier of choice for Baby Maria, the sling was my baby carrier of choice for Enzo. If you're a new mom who likes to cook I recommend finding a baby carrier that works well for you. You will use it a lot in the kitchen, make sure it's something you can throw in the wash along with your aprons and table cloth.

My kitchen helper and I washed the plums together. Then I put her in the back so I could cut the plums otherwise her baby hands like to reach for the knife which is a a teeny bit scary. Then my kitchen helper bailed out on me and went down for a nap.

When my baby sleeps I work. I grade papers, I read for my class, I blog, I do all those things that are impossible to do when she's awake. Cooking is hard to do when she's awake but it's not impossible.

When she she woke up we finished the first batch. I made a recipe that didn't require pectin and it didn't work. Hello plum sauce! 

I had my friend Victoria come help me with the second batch. She brought fancy pectin, a pair of helping hands, and a great attitude.

She totally saved the day
and
success!

Plum Jam with Cinnamon was made with very little sugar.

 

To find the full recipe please visit The Santa Cruz Sentinel, where I write a weekly food column and shared my plum jam recipe this week.

Have you ever made jam before? The first time I made jam was two summers ago when we rescued golden plums from the ground and made ridiculous amounts of golden plum jam. That summer we also made blackberry jam. Now we have jars of pretty red plum jam to enjoy, I think this is my new fave.

post-edit: A reader sent me an e-mail that had some insightful information.

Hi Damaris!

I read your column every Wednesday in the Sentinel (my favorite section is the food section after the comics) and of course I found it delightful that your article focused on low sugar jam.

 I've been using Pomona's for years making these kinds of jam from all fruit including pears, and I love them. They're great and taste like the fruit they were made with!

One thing I think is important to mention to your readers is that because of the low sugar, the jam colors will oxidize fast and look a bit cloudy. They don't keep as long in the pantry as higher-sugar jams ( I make so much every year so I have to be careful to check my "inventory" regularly for these signs of age.) Also, once opened, they also tend to go moldy quicker too, even if kept in the fridge, so small jars work best for these jams since the small jars are eaten quicker.

I hope you continue to offer your fun insights on feeding our families!! Thank you!

Jacqueline Knight
Felton

Thanks Jacqueline! This is really helpful. I am excited to use pomona's pectin again and pear jam...YUM! 

Harvesting the benifts of making jam

We busted out some more of our plum jam yesterday for a pot luck dinner we had with friends. You can read my original post Golden Plum Jam to get the recipe and step by step process of how my first jam making experience went. Looking back on that post I realize that not only was it fun to make jam but it was also very much worth it. Months later we can take a jar of home made jam to a pot luck and people will still be super stoked. I know jam making season is over but there are ways you can prepare right now so that when the time comes you'll be ready to make some of your own jam.

The simplest thing you can do is to start saving glass jars with lids. If you want the pretty jars I recommend buying them now as I've noticed that mason jars are on sale since the end of summer. Another thing you can do is to be informed on how to make jam. My favorite jam making article is found on pickyourown.org where they have a step by step process with pictures on how to make various types of jams.

For those of you who have made jam before can you share some tips on how to make the process easier?

Blackberry Jam

The blackberry saga culminated into mass production of jam. I am happy to announce that we are finally packing our bags for our trip instead of picking blackberries.

If you too are surrounded with blackberries I highly suggest making jam because it's easy as heck. Before making jam for the first time I had an image of fancy jars and fancy jam making equipment in my head (whatever that may be). I'm sure the fancy stuff helps but I'm not fancy so I had to make do with what I have and I'm happy to say that the jam turned out great and that I no longer have a bunch of empty old glass jars on top of my cabinets. The old glass jars are filled with jam that should last us until next summer when we will once again welcome blackberries back into our kitchen.

BLACKBERRY JAM

The first thing you need to do is wash and sterilize all of your jars and lids. I did this by washing them out in the sink and them placing the jars and the lids inside a large pot with boiling water. I left the jars in the pot with the boiling water for about 3 minutes and then took them out with a wooden spoon and placed them on top of a cookie sheet. I left the lids in the pot until I was ready to fill the jars up with the jam.

• 4 pints of blackberry
  
• 7 cups sugar
• 1 box of pectin

1. Wash the blackberries and and remove all stems or leaves.
2. Place the blackberries in a large mixing bowl and slightly mash them. I used my hands but I'm sure it would work with a potato masher.
3. Measure 5 cups of mashed blackberries and put it in a large pan.
4. Stir the blackberries with a wooden spoon and bring to full rolling boil.
5. Once the blackberries begin to boil add the pectin and continue to stir.
6. Bring the blackberry-pectin mixture back to a full rolling boil and add the sugar.
7. Continue stirring. When it reaches a full boil you will want it to boil hard for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.
8. Fill the sterilized jars within 1/4 inch of the top.Wipe of the spilled jam from the jars and set the lids on top.
9. Some people have a those big caning pots where you can place the jars inside to help it set. I don't have one so I turned the jars upside down for ten minutes and then turned them up again and didn't move them for a couple hours until they were completely cooled down.

This summer was the first time that I used blackberries. Here are some of the things that I've made.

crepes
puff pastry
cheese cake

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.