Simple Plum Jam Recipe | Diethood

That is my straightforward selfmade plum jam recipe made with contemporary plums, aromatic cardamom pods, and sugar. Three substances 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 amazing addition to cheese boards, and I really like spreading it on every little thing from dinner rolls with butter to silver greenback pancakes.

A hand lifting a spoon from a jar of plum jam with fresh plums in the background.

Enjoyable reality: We have now just a little 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. After 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 bit of brie cheese and heat selfmade bread on the aspect.

Why I Know You’ll Love This Plum Jam Recipe

No peeling or pectin. You don’t must peel the plums or add pectin to your jam.
Newbie-friendly. It is a nice small-batch plum jam recipe for rookies. 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 will have canning jars should you plan to protect your jam.
Canning is non-obligatory. I embrace my fast methodology for canning jam at residence utilizing the oven. It’s an non-obligatory step, however nice should you’d prefer to protect this plum jam for pantry storage, since this recipe makes about 4 to five cups of jam.

Plum jam ingredients with text labels overlaying each ingredient.

Collect Your Jam Elements

I’ve made this plum jam with solely contemporary plums, sugar, and water, and it’s scrumptious! Someday, I added cardamom pods, and the scent was heavenly. They’ve stayed a part of my recipe ever since.

Recent Ripe Plums – Decide up plums from the farmer’s market, or, should you’re fortunate sufficient to develop your personal, you may choose them contemporary. 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 can also make wild plum jam or use any out there selection.
Cardamom Pods – I desire utilizing entire inexperienced cardamom pods. If cardamom isn’t out there, you may exchange the pods with a tablespoon of nutmeg, or this plum jam recipe nonetheless tastes wonderful 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 take advantage of much less sugar in my plum jam; nevertheless, should you like a sweeter jam, be at liberty so as to add as much as 1 further cup of sugar.

Non-obligatory Add-ins and Variations

Lemon juice. Lemon juice can assist thicken and protect the jam whereas brightening up the flavors. I don’t embrace it, however you may add as much as 1 massive lemon’s value of juice to your jam, to style.
Heat spices. Add contemporary or floor ginger, or make a spiced plum jam with cinnamon and cloves. You possibly can pressure out substances like cinnamon sticks and entire 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 properly with cheese, desserts, and breakfast. I really like smearing contemporary 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 only a few straightforward methods to make use of plum jam:

As a ramification. 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 truffles, kolacky cookies, and muffins.
Cheese boards. Candy-tart plum jam is a superb 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.

Three jars of jam set on a table with plums scattered around them.

Stockpot – I take advantage of a heavy 6-quart stockpot. You possibly can prepare dinner jam in the identical stockpot you’d use to boil pasta (nothing fancy).
Wood Spoon – For stirring. Wood 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.
Boil. Cook dinner over medium warmth and produce to a boil; scale back the warmth to low and simmer for 1 hour. Take away from warmth and permit the plums to utterly cool.
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 along with your palms or a big picket spoon in opposition to the colander to pressure them.
Squeeze out the pulp. Decide 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.
Cook dinner the jam. Put the plum combination again into the stockpot, stir within the sugar, style for sweetness, alter if wanted, and produce 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

Prep. Preheat oven to 200°F.
Warmth the jars. Wash the jars with cleaning soap and water, dry them, and place them mouth aspect up, with out lids, within the oven for 10 minutes.
Sterilize the lids. Sterilize the lids by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Enable to dry.
Fill the jars. Spoon the recent plum jam into the recent, sterilized jars and seal. Enable jars to chill to room temperature.

Yield. From 3 kilos of plums, count on about 4 to five cups of jam, relying on how juicy the fruit is and the way a lot it reduces because it cooks. As a result of sugar and just a little water are added, the ultimate quantity doesn’t shrink down to only the fruit pulp.
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.

Dietary information is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values could fluctuate in accordance with the substances and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed information.

How one can Make Plum Jam

It takes a little bit of persistence 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 have a look at the steps to set your self up for achievement:

Pouring water over fresh plums in a pot. — Mix the plums, water, and cardamom.

Put together the plums. Wash the plums properly and take away the stems. Don’t pit the plums at this stage. Fairly, you’ll boil the fruit and press out the pits later. So, add the plums entire to your stockpot.
Boil the plums. Subsequent, pour water over the plums and stir within the cardamom pods. Convey 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.

Strained boiled plums in a colander. — Pressure the plums.

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 way of the colander. Then, squeeze the leftover pulp by the handful. You wish to press the pulp, skins, and cardamom seeds into the bowl under, 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 produce 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 check. Chill a plate within the freezer. Dollop a spoonful of jam on the chilly plate and let it sit for a minute. Then, gently move the tip of your finger by way of the jam. If it wrinkles and gels, it’s prepared! If the jam appears unfastened and liquid, it’s an indication that it must prepare dinner longer. Retest the jam each couple of minutes till it passes.

A spoon in a jar of plum jam with fresh plums in the background.

Canning Plum Jam, Step-by-Step

As soon as the jam has thickened to the precise consistency, you may select the way you’d prefer to retailer it. With out canning, contemporary 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 dealing with 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 recent plum jam into the recent, 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, all the time examine your jars whenever you open them. If one thing smells off or appears to be like 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. Maintain any cans of jam refrigerated after opening. Plum jam lasts within the fridge for a few weeks. All the time examine the jam for indicators of spoilage earlier than serving.