Victoria Plum Jam

Well I love jam and this year I have took to making my own with all the fruit that has been plentiful. My Mum has a lovely plum tree in her garden and so earlier this week I decided to make some plum jam.

Freshly picked plums.

The recipe is easy....for every pound of fruit it is a pound of sugar and a 1/4 pint of water..that's all there is to it!! Depending on which recipe you look at depends on whether you stone your plums first or after...I like to stone my plums first though as the stones add more weight to the fruit which I think makes the jam too sweet.

the plums...washed, stoned and ready to use!

When you have washed and halved your plums (and stoned them according to preference) add them to a nice big pot, bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is tender. Then take off the heat..add sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved. Return pan to heat and boil rapidly, stirring continually until set is ready.

Simmering away in the pan..fantastic smell :-)

I test set using 'the saucer test', or you can use a cooking thermometer if you have one. If you decide not to stone your plums before cooking this is when you would remove them...as the jam boils the stones will rise to the surface and then you take them out. Once set is right, put into sterilized jars, add waxed disc and then either put lids on immediately or when jam is cold!!

The jam..just waiting for labels.

I don't buy jars, just save them from other things I have had so they are usually all sorts of different sizes. I used 4 lb's of plums for the jam I made.