Plum Jam & Jelly

[your_comforting_company]

I'll leave the jam recipe details to the professionals.. I used a combination of the Ball Blue Book and the leaflet that comes with the pectin. Basically, you just sterilize your jars, pit the fruits, put in a boiler with pectin, bring to a boil, add sugar, boil again, then put in jars, put jars in boiler and roll (boil) for 10 minutes. let set for 24 hours.

Fresh plums picked yesterday evening:
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cooked fruit, sugar, and pectin ready for jars:
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Filled jars being processed:
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The lot:
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The Gentleman who showed me how to make the pickled okra gave me some extra he didn't want to process, so I canned those today also
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The jelly is a little different. You cook the fruit to stop the enzymes and prevent bacteria, mold, yeast, etc, spoilage, and it helps to mellow the tartness of the juice. This is a pic of the pulpy cooked fruits being strained through cheesecloth.
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We Got about half a gallon of juice out of this and I really thought we should have gotten more, so we are going to try a different processing method for getting the juice. This seemed like a LOT of extra work and it was very time consuming. I can see that if I don't find a more efficient method of processing, I will only be making jams from now on!

Projects for next weekend will be canning peas, tomatos, squash, and "garden soup". Elderberries are putting on fruit up the road, so hopefully they'll be ready to pick this week and we'll make some elderberry jelly too. Thanks for looking!

[your_comforting_company]

Oh yeah... It's great spread on one of these babies! A spoonful of the fresh hot jam on a biscuit is a real treat!

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I like the fruit bits being in there.. gives the jar some character.
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[Winnie]

I have to agree that jelly making is a PITA. I gave it up years ago. These days I rub the cooked fruit pulp through a coarse seive to remove skin, pips etc(depending on the fruit) You still get smooth jam/jelly, but with much less wastage. The only difference between bitless jam and jelly is the clarity.

Isn't it just great filling your pantry with homemade stuff!

Edit: If you don't want to use commercial pectin, use a couple tart apples or lemon juice. Works for me!

[your_comforting_company]

I will be looking more into fruits that contain their own pectin (I thought plums did, but I was apparently mistaken!) I didn't want the lemon to change the taste of the plums' jam, so we went with store-bought pectin.
It's a learning process for us (and even for grandma!) so we'll be exploring alternatives all the rest of the season, I'm sure. I rather prefer the fruit bits in there, so I think we'll be going with jams here on out.

Putting things in the pantry that we make ourselves is so very rewarding. And it's not just self-fulfilling, it brings us closer as a family!

[Winnie]

I remembered you can make your own pectin. Hope it helps!

http://www.pickyourown.org/makeyourownpectin.htm

I use this site a lot, it has lots of interesting and useful info.

Oh, you've got me jealous, I won't be 'jammin til august! lol

[BH51]

Good stuff, YCC........
..............I set-out several plum trees last year so hopefully next year I'll
have some plums to make some jelly...Okra?..never thought about that...
May give it a try...those biscuits sent me to the kitchen.................BH51

[Old GI]

"This is deja-vue, all over again". What childhood memories this evokes. Thanks.