PLUM JAM

Plums and apples before boiling

My father-in-law Pat grows plums and he gave us a bunch of them at the weekend. Jam time! I added two apples to the plums as they were going to go in the compost otherwise. The jam is super sweet. It would be lovely on a Ditty's Irish oat cake, or on some nice brown soda bread. I enjoyed it on a rice cake, in the absence of other substances :)

Juno squeezing the lemon

Stirring, stirring

Ingredients

2lbs plums

2 eating apples, peeled and chopped small

2lbs granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tblsp butter

100ml cold water

Method

·         Wash plums and remove stalks. Cut the plums and remove the stone.

·         Peel, core and cut apples up small

·         Place fruit, lemon juice and water in a large, deep pot and bring to the boil, stirring frequently

·         Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the fruit has softened

·         Keep heat low and add sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

·         Stir in the butter to reduce frothing. Turn up the heat and stir continuously until the mixture comes to a rapid boil.

·         Continue stirring on high heat until the jam reaches setting point. This is when the mixture starts to thicken and set on the sides of the pot.

·         Remove from heat. To test, place a teaspoon of jam onto a cold saucer. Allow to cool, then push your finger through the jam, it should start to congeal and wrinkle up - if it’s still runny, you haven’t yet reached setting point.

·         If not set, return the pot to the heat; bring back up to a rolling boil and test again in a few minutes.

·         Remove from heat and ladle into clean, sterilised, warm jars. (I got four Bonne Maman jars of jam from this amount.) Seal while jars are warm.

Four jars - one with homespun lid

Sterilising jars

·         Preheat oven to 130C

·         Clean jam jars and lids in the dishwasher or with water and washing up liquid. Dry thoroughly.

·         Line a baking tray with newspaper. Place jars on it – make sure they are not touching.

·         Pop in the oven 20 minutes before you expect your jam to be ready – the jars must be hot when you put the hot jam into them.

·         Seal immediately with lids or with greaseproof rounds and greaseproof/plastic lids held on with elastic/string.

Plum jam on a rice cake - yum!

Mam's Jam

My two sons made this blackberry jam for me for my birthday with their Dad. Very sweet.

I have a Summer Fruits Jam recipe here if you feel the need to make jam - frozen fruit is fine for jam making. Half the fun is picking the jars and making the labels, I find.

SUMMER FRUITS JAM

I used frozen summer fruit – blackberries, red currants, raspberries, black currants – and Siúcra’s Sure-Set Jam Sugar, but you can use ordinary sugar; use the juice of two lemons, instead of one, if you use ordinary sugar.

The jars are heated to stop them cracking when the hot jam is poured in. This amount made five pots of jam, a lovely smell in the kitchen, and a happy hour together for me and my littlest son.

Preheat oven to 180˚C to warm the jam jars

1kg fresh or frozen berries
1kg sure-set jam sugar
juice of 1 lemon

• Simmer the berries and the lemon juice together in a big pot until the fruit is soft
• Stir in the sugar until it dissolves
• Put 5 dry, clean jam jars into the heated oven for 5 minutes
• Bring the mix to the boil, put the lid on the pot, and boil vigorously for 4 minutes
• Carefully fill the hot jars with the very hot jam using a small ladle
• Cover with wax discs, or the jam jar lids, and stand to cool