Plums are in abundance at the moment and they make amazing jam. Personally I’m not keen on the skin in my jam so I make a jelly rather than jam.

Jam making is all about proportions, this is the quantities I used today.

You Will Need:

• 1650g Plums
• 165ml Water
• 2 x Cinnamon Sticks

• Granulated Sugar

Method:

• Cut the plums in half and put all of the plum (including the stones) in your largest heavy based pan along with the water and cinnamon sticks.
• Bring to the boil and Simmer for 20mins until soft and pulpy. I then mash the plums so to extract as much of the juice as possible.
• Strain through a jelly bag over night, reserving the juice in a bowl or jug.

Tip: if you do not have a jelly bag, pour though a colander over a bowl to remove the big bits, then pour though a sieve over a bowl and allow this to drip over night.

Tip: While the fruit is dripping do stir it and squeeze the fruit from time to time to encourage all the juice out.

• Measure the juice. The quantity of sugar needed depends on the amount of juice collected.

1 pint of juice : 1lb Granulated Sugar

or

500ml Juice : 450g Granulated Sugar

• Add the sugar and the juice to a large pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then bring to the boil and simmer until your jam reaches setting point. The more jam you are making the longer you will need to simmer before setting point is reached.
• Check for setting point (see below).
• Pour into sterilized jars, put lids on and label with the ‘Plum Jam’ and the date you made it.

Tip: Setting point – You can tell when your jelly/jam has reached setting point by dripping a small amount onto a saucer and popping into the fridge for a couple of minutes, when the jelly is set it will wrinkle when pushed with your finger tip.

Tip: Sterilizing the jars is easy, I wash them up, dry them then bake in an oven at 100degrees for 15-20mins. Pour the hot jam into the jars while the jars are hot and fresh out the oven.

Tip: Sterilizing lids is super easy too, after washing up (and a couple of minutes before you require them), I pour freshly boiled water into the lids. Empty the boiled water as you place them on the filled jars.