Canning and Jamming

Plum Jam

After a vacation to New Mexico I came back to cold Chicago and opened my empty refrigerator and full freezer. My friend Dana had graciously frozen a bunch of fruit from a summer's farmers market we worked for me. I looked at the stuff, a lot of frozen billiard sized and feeling fruits, and decided to pull out the bag of 8 plums and the bag of 6 tomatoes. I made a thick tomato sauce verging on paste that ended up being perfect for a baked goat cheese and marinara sauce dish. The plums I took out in an attempt to make jam. The jam is not too sweet and turned out to be a perfect spread on top of a baguette and underneath a thinly sliced piece of brie...

Yields: 3 small jars (about 22 oz)

What you need:
Approximately 8 frozen plums
12 oz. Granulated Sugar
25 g. Pectin (about 1/2 a box)
10 oz. Water
Two medium to large stock pots
2-3 mason jars with matching lids (doesn't have to be new, just has to seal very well!)
Tongs
Towels, several


Procedure:
In one of the stock pots fill 3/4 of the way up with water. Bring the water to a boil and place the mason jars in the water to sterilize them. Let the water come to a full boil again and then turn the heat down to a simmer. Let simmer until ready to fill the jars.

Wash the thawed out frozen plums. When it is no longer frozen the skin should be able to peel off. Try to do this over the other stock pot so that you don't loose any of the juices, it might smell a little old but unless you see bruising on the plums they are still good. Take the skins off and remove the pits, place the meat in the stock pot (if you want a finer smoother jam cut the meat into smaller bits). Heat the plum meat and water in the stock pot for approximately 10 minutes, you want the juices to come out and the meat to become very tender. Add sugar in two stages making sure to continuously stir to avoid burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. When the sugar is fully dissolved you can stir in the pectin. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, you can occasionally stir it to make sure nothing is burning to the bottom of the pot and that the mixture is thickening up.

Remove a jar and matching lid from the simmering water, empty out water before filling with jam. Leave 1" space at the top of the jar. Wipe jam off of the rim and sides and seal with the lid tightly. Do this for all the jars and then return the jars to the pot of boiling water for another 10 minutes. This is going to seal the jars for storage.

After 10 minutes remove the jars and press the top to make sure it was properly sealed. Properly sealed jars can be stored in a cool dry storage area for up to a year. Unsealed jars need to be refrigerated or used (within a month, lets say).