Plum Jam
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This plum jam recipe is easy to make and is delicious not only spread on bread and toast but added to cakes, in muffins, on pancakes, ice cream and any other way your heart desires! You can make it either with or without pectin.
Homemade Plum Jam Without Pectin
With four Italian plum trees in our yard I get busy the end of every Summer processing loads of plums every which way possible: Dried, canned, frozen, dehydrated, turned into Fruit Leather, cakes (including this German Plum Cake), cobblers, Plum Butter, Plum Sauce (aka duck sauce) and anything else I’m able to think of.
Plum jam is another great way to turn those wonderfully plump, flavorful and juicy plums into something delicious that you can enjoy all year long. And you have the option whether to use pectin or make it without. Whether you’re spreading it on toast, drizzling it over waffles or ice cream or any other way your heart desires, you’re going to love the fresh and vibrant flavor of this homemade plum jam!
Plum Jam Recipe
Let’s get started!
Wash the plums, cut them in half, discard the pits and place the plums in a large pot.
To chop or not to chop the plums:
- If you’re NOT using pectin and are letting the jam simmer for a long time, there’s no need to chop them because they’ll break down by themselves and you can always give the jam a mash or use a hand blender to puree part of it later on if you don’t want as many chunks.
- If you ARE using pectin that means the jam will only boil for a few minutes and the plums will not break down, so go ahead and chop the plums up.
Add the sugar and lemon juice heat the pot, initially over medium heat so the plums or sugar don’t scorch. Once the plums juices start to run you can increase the heat.
If you’re NOT using pectin: Simmer the plum uncovered until an instant read thermometer reads 220 degrees F. That’s important in order for the jam to set and not be too runny. Alternatively, freeze a couple of spoons and drop some jam onto them: If the jam sets and is spreadable, but not runny, it is done.
Don’t bother skimming off the foam because that will all dissolve by itself towards the end.
If you ARE using pectin: Follow the package instructions of whatever pectin you are using. Skim off the foam.
If you like you can use a potato masher or a hand-held immersion blender to mash/blend part of the jam until the desired amount of chunkiness is reached.
How to Can Plum Jam
Using sterilized jars, ladle the hot jam into the jars and wipe off the rims with a moist towel to make sure no jam is on the rims. Fill each jar leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wash the lids with soapy water and, place them on the jars and screw on the sterilized rings. Boil them in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Carefully remove the jars and let them sit undisturbed for 24 hours before removing the rings (optional) and storing them in a cool place. They will keep for up to a year. Once opened, store in the fridge, will keep for at least a month.
Ways to Enjoy It
There are lots of ways you can enjoy your delicious homemade plum jam. Here are just a few ideas:
- Spread on bread, toast, scones, sourdough English muffins or crumpets.
- Served with waffles or pancakes (see my whole wheat sourdough waffles and oat waffles).
- Used as a filling for jelly rolls, donuts, turnovers, tarts, muffins, and cakes (see my Victoria sponge cake, whole grain jam squares and Berliner).
- Drizzled over ice cream or homemade yogurt.
Enjoy!
For more delicious homemade jam recipes try my:
- Gooseberry Jam
- Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
- Blackberry Jam
- Huckleberry Jam
- Black Currant Jam
- Plum Jam
- Red Currant Jelly
- Lemon Lime Marmalade
- Blueberry Lemon Apricot Jam
- Caramel Pear Butter
- Toasted Hazelnut & Date Spread
- Peach Bacon Jam
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Plum Jam
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Italian plums , washed, cut in half and pits removed
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash the plums, cut them in half, discard the pits and place the plums in a large pot.To chop or not to chop the plums:If you're NOT using pectin and are letting the jam simmer for a long time, there's no need to chop them because they'll break down by themselves and you can always give the jam a mash or use a hand blender to puree part of it later on if you don't want as many chunks.If you ARE using pectin the jam will only need boil for a few minutes and the plums will not break down, so go ahead and chop the plums up.Add the sugar and lemon juice and heat the pot, initially over medium heat so the plums or sugar don't scorch. Once the plums juices start to run you can increase the heat.
- If you’re NOT using pectin: Simmer the plum uncovered until an instant read thermometer reads 220 degrees F. That’s important in order for the jam to set and not be too runny. (Alternatively, freeze a couple of spoons and drop some jam onto them: If the jam sets and is spreadable, but not runny, it is done.) Don’t bother skimming off the foam because that will all dissolve by itself towards the end.If you ARE using pectin: Follow the package instructions of whatever pectin you are using. Skim off the foam.If you like you can use a potato masher or a hand-held immersion blender to mash/blend part of the jam until the desired amount of chunkiness is reached.
- Using sterilized jars, ladle the hot jam into the jars and wipe off the rims with a moist towel to make sure no jam is on the rims. Fill each jar leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wash the lids with soapy water and, place them on the jars and screw on the sterilized rings. Boil them in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.Carefully remove the jars and let them sit undisturbed for 24 hours before removing the rings (optional) and storing them in a cool place. They will keep for up to a year. Once opened, store in the fridge, will keep for at least a month.Makes about 3 1/2 pints or 7 half pints.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet September 28, 2018
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Hi.
We also have Plum trees in the-fruitgardens, of Transilvania. /Erdély.
And we like to make- Kompót-a hungarian style-word for oly boiled fruit in a beachcobbler style of use. only-we use them as instead of sour-cucumbers/and other viegar-tried-and true pickled veg. to eat next to mashed potatoes as side-dish.even as you said-best of the best poultry is duck.
-nayhow. please include this- peachcobbler can be done with them. just make sure, you donát take the seads out. is an option in our cruisine-even though it is highly adviced. you can try with American plum as well..
add vanilla in case-you missed-you can even try them-our plums-are green when they ripen on the inside-it is highly possible, they are similar to-nature wise/kökény is a hungarian bush-berry.
/also, see, reasons to not-do much-but use a Dutch Oven all day, with plum already seeded. till it becomes a paste is with NO-added sugar.
what you are looking for is almost timely-stirring. on the stove. and havingg all-moisture dissappear, even the-peel is the consistency.
BEST-with lathered plum. is must-respect the fail-actual dried plums here are still juici and they are Not the same – level of cuisine-that is the actual imitation, of seven years-old reboiled together jams, from your own-jam cabinet-re boiling them together is-mixed jam, an it is black-mostly as all colors are drained from sun and drying on their own.
-it is a culinary hazard to guess, how best to say-that is most possibility with fiery of jam. like refines sugar from sweetroots i imagine..
but-like the only proper use of such flavorfull a jam, is-niceest. with-according to my trials and errors not on french baguette, but – puss pastry, a magic-it does better than peach. if you-care, please try any-pastry that you can find in rolls from the supermarket-the main factor is the-layers and it is Art-to get it right in any means at home, that i should think is not croissant-level. to bake them at home.. is also seeing them put into plastic to soften, and so is the bakery-at town.. going under – while the smell of vanilla drws us in, in the mall-staircase/when i was little it seemed best to at some point ask, but which is still warm out of the oven. even those that need room temperature milk to eat with ease warm. one cannot possibly wait for that pie in Tom&Jerry.portraid.
//i understand you might want to try stg. weird but goes with the leathered plum or such is an understanding-on words i feel a similé in -poetic and strange//i tried not boiled cereal-base is like beaten grains.. that you can eat-best. is the wheat-style and not rice.
to use sour-cream is a tad too much like chefir-with mushroom at factory-of lactate used. for a reason.. but we do it at home at-towns not, only villages.
//my take on cuisine. is that women are-self/reliant in the jam department and pickling for harsher times need us to be-visibly attentive to what we have in surplus adding-a time of year and a fruittree-orchard. that means almost like an ant-amozonian.. o.o cannot eat allthis, it needs persevearning-preserves. especially through the wintertime in Vitamine-C. DO you think you woul use that chefir with the beaten grains to soak overnight in the fridge RAW-not like Brittish in waterpiled with just -about anything DRIED-EWW bonesoup -is not okay-blakened. PLUMS need a little moisture, and leathered is what you are lookiing at.
and also, one thing-add the lathered plum a bit.. it is good, if thhe graines sothened to eddible-or to chew. otherwise.. try the slower two hour version and i … naturally chose the time-of recommended can wait time-noone can ruin a recipe that you do by your taste. to your time and no main activity is better than open fireplace-cooking of that jam in particuler-I think Brittain called it marmalade-for the consistency-is unknown… from o.oO.O oranges as that – bear animation character left at the railstation…//i feel lost here.
I like your blog of / recipies, noawdays all hungarian recipies are shared on cooking-chanels, and main-portals that they call their street-kitchen and suuch… i think i cannot even tell them about borsh-being a rusc favorite, but a jam needs a bit of sour. except thisone.
wheet-preferred is one that Nestlé uses. / latheret jam and chefir.
in a bowl and now i get cereal.
and i will never boil it in.. a waterbowl.//how brittain failed ciusine, only seeing a bone soiup, that is not reusable for Art-canvas Purposes.. :) and i go as if into the rain, Paddington, was the Station, guysof brittici..\\i tend to go off topic and i get Lost.
Hi, a new subscriber of e-mail. orsi
Just made this jam. No pectin method. Boiled and boiled but when it hit the 220 mark it got thick fast! Only ended up with 5 1/2 pints, but it looks and tastes wonderful! Make sure and babysit this jam when it gets close to temperature!
do you mash them before cooking or after?
After, when they’re very soft. Then you can mash them according to your desired consistency.
This recipe didn’t work for me. I used no pectin but otherwise followed the instructions carefully, used a instant read thermometer to get the temp right, and it unfortunately the jam didn’t gel. Regardless of the temperature instruction, it might be good to have an estimate of how long you need to let it boil to reach the point where it will gel. This recipe also does not mention the plum skins. I included mine, and they all fell off in the boiling process, and then I had to extract them from the hot fruit mixture. I uncanned all my jars, added a full package of powdered Certo, resterilized everything, and am trying again. Why is jam so hard?
Hi KT, for jam to gel you either need 1) pectin or 2) enough sugar and the right temperature. Having enough sugar and allowing the mixture to get up to temperature is critical for getting jam to gel, especially when the fruit being used is naturally low in pectin. The boiling time will vary depending on the temperature of your stove, the kind of pot you’re using, the diameter of the pot, etc, so it’s not helpful to state a set length of time. Instead you simply boil it until it’s up to temp or, alternatively, to perform the wrinkle test to see if the jam has set. If you brought the jam up to the right temperature and it still did not gel then it sounds like either your thermometer isn’t accurate, you reduced the sugar, or you doubled the recipe which often just doesn’t work well for making jam. As for the skins – those are typically just left on. They’re perfectly soft and don’t negatively alter the texture of the jam at all.
Don’t use this recipe with added pectin – it won’t gel because the proportions of fruit to sugar are wrong. I usually make jams with added pectin and was suspicious, but decided to try it anyway. Sure enough, it made much more than the 7 half pints, and the jam didn’t gel. It looks like the proportions would be right for jam that you cook down, which is what I will probably do as I open my jars. Also, I just realized that her photo shows Italian prune plums, and I used the type you are more likely to find in the grocery store (red skin, yellow pulp), which have a much higher juice to pulp ratio. It would be helpful if the recipe specified the type of plum to use.
You said fill the jars no LESS than 1/4 inch from the top. Do you mean no MORE than 1/4 inch from the top? Most of the time canning instructions say to leave at least 1/2 to 1 inch at the top of the jar unfilled! Thanks for clarifying this for me
Hi Glenda, you’ll need to leave 1/4 inch of headspace. No more than that is necessary for jams or jellies.
The recipe says it makes 224 1 Tbsp servings, which comes out to 112 fl. oz. However, the recipe ALSO claims it yields about 7 half-pints, which is just 56 fl. oz. Which is correct?
Hi John, the conversion software sure went a little beserk on the tablespoons :) The roughly 7 half pints is correct.
Just made this, no pectin and came out lovely! So good!
I’m so glad, Sharry, thank you!