The Plum Project

I'm crazy about plums, and plum jam is pretty much my favorite. Pittsburgh, however, is not exactly the stone fruit capital of the universe. I'm not sure why our plums mostly come from out of state, since this area is a perfectly good climate for growing them. When I was growing up, a very productive (unpruned, enormous) plum tree grew happily in our back yard, which my parents entirely neglected, and was otherwise a stoney, lumpy wasteland. They were Italian prune-type plums, delicious and plentiful despite a total lack of attention. If I ever have my own garden again, I will plant a variety of plum trees, for sure.

I pretty much grab any variety of plums I see on offer, and this week I got some unlabled yellow ones on a trip to the Strip. They have a slightly green cast to them, and they are delicious. (I had to test one, of course.) So I've kind of decided to concentrate my jam making in the plum category this year, and make small batches of as many different kinds as I find. I figure an assortment of plum jams will make some nice Christmas presents, and keep me happy with my toast, too. In keeping with the plum theme, I'll be making some more tkemali, and continue messing around with prunes. (a/k/a "dried plums".)

I got all the yellow plums they had, only slightly under 3 pounds-good for about 3 1/2 eight ounce jars, I reckoned, so I used a Christine Ferber style preparation:

3 pounds yellow plums, quartered and destoned, but not peeled
3 cups sugar
juice of one lemon
vanilla bean, split
freshly ground black pepper

Preserving pan
Candy thermometer
canning funnel
4 eight ounce ball jars and 4 new 2 part lids
tongs

Day one: Put plums, sugar and lemon juice in a large glass or stoneware bowl, toss to blend. Let sit one hour at room temperature. Transfer to preserving pan, or any heavy nonreactive pan of suitable size. Bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute.Return to bowl. Cover with circle of parchment paper and refrigerate over night.

Day two: Put ball jars and funnel in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes and remove to stoveside surface covered with a towel. Turn off flame and slide lids into the hot water.

Transfer fruit back to preserving pan, add vanilla bean and pepper. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until it reaches 220F on a candy thermometer, skimming foam. You can use any other method you like to test for jelling. With plum jam, the foaming generally dies down and changes when it has jelled. Once you have made a few batches, you will probably recognize this symptom. Til then, it's probably best to go by temperature. (That being said, I experimentally stopped a bit early this time. I don't like a hard set, and I tend to over cook my plum jam. We'll see how it is.)

Ladle the preserves into the sterilized jars, using the funnel. Fill nearly to the top. Many folks give them a stir to remove air bubbles here. Fish out the flat part of the lids with the tongs, and set them on top of the jars. You will need to use your fingers on the sides here to get them in place, Try not to burn yourself as you do this. Fish out the ring part of the lids, and screw them on-not too tight, not super loose.

This is where I stop-except that I check the lids about 12 hours later to make sure they aren't boinging. If they boing, I refrigerate them and use the right away, because the seal is no good. If you want to be properly safe, you should either refrigerate all of these preserves, or process them in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, as is set forth in pretty much any preserving book you can find..

I use this plain old european method, and let the heat from the boiling fruit seal the jars, but there is a risk attached..so I can't recommend it. I process everything carefully the safe way myself, except for jam and brandied fruits-where I rely on the sugar, acidic fruit and/or lemon juice and/or alcohol..perhaps unwisely. I just find that the fruit taste is so much brighter without the extra boiling.

All my jars sealed properly-though I refrigerated the partial jar to sample now. Even without the recommended month of mellowing, this is really good stuff. I like the way the plum skins roll up and provide a bit of chewy marmalade-y texture. Some labeling, and onto the shelf. I love that part.

I was hoping to make some apple pectin jelly this weekend with 10 pounds of windfall apples I got from Don, my CSA farmer. But then I realized I didn't have enough 8 ounce canning jars, once I'd made the plum jam. The pint and quart jars tend to stay with me, but an awful lot of the small ones leave the house as gifts. Some folks give them back-which is clever, because then they can get more treats. Others reuse them themselves, which is okay too. I'm just going to have to order me some more-no one nearby seems to carry the wide mouth 8 ozers. Since a batch of jam uses 8oz of the pectin jelly, it's really the only way to go. Hope I can get them by next weekend.

Addendum: Just opened the first jar after a few weeks. It is sooo delicious. God, I wish I knew for sure what those plums were called. This may well be my favorite jam I've ever made. Tart/sweet, and the vanilla and pepper are absolutely right. Only 2 more jars. Aaargh.

Comments

[julia]

Wow delicious! I LOVE plums!
I usually eat them just plain, fresh out of my hand, but this sounds really good... yes, also very good as a present! tnx

[ilva]

Oh you must have bought the same variety that is growing on my neighbours tree and this year a branch has reached over the fence and I have been able to collect several of them! Really nice but unfortunately not enough to make your recipe. I better go out and buy some!

[Tanna]

I really like the bowl of yellow plums - you just can see the upcoming jars within!
That should be really wonderful to have all the different variety of plums.

[Jyotsna]

Lovely to see the (preserved )fruit of your labours.It must be satisfying to see that stack of jars. I do love the labelling bit myself!

[steven]

Mmm, mmm, mmm plums and vanilla. I hear you on the stone fruit thing, the plums and nectarines have been terrible in the stores. It may have seemed like a good idea years ago to shift all the stone fruit production to California, but in the past twenty years the fruit is being shipped greener and greener with no chance of ever developing any flavor at all. The worst thing is to get that kind of fruit in a store in California not twenty miles from the orchards. Shameful.

[Bakerina]

Ohhhhh, yum. Now I'm really sorry that I ate out of hand all the shiro plums I bought at the market last week. They would be perfect in this jam. (I wonder if those unmarked plums in the Strip were shiros? They are green when unripe/underripe, but ripen into the most gorgeous glowing yellow color. I'm mad for 'em.)

I have been very, very slack in keeping up with you and the beautiful things you've been making. I'm a scoundrel, and I apologize for it. I promise you that when Lloyd and I get to Pittsburgh, I will make it up to you. :)

[farmgirl]

Did someone say Christmas presents?

[Margaret]

I checked Ms.Ferber's book out of the library after reading about your beautiful jams, but I am curious about a couple of things.. Does her jam turn out more like canned fruit in syrup, with the large chunks of fruit? Does it gel enough for a PB&J? Thanks for your lovely site!

[lindy]

julia-it is always a little hard to keep from eating them all up before making jam
ilva-there are several mulberry trees within my reach-but no plums
tanna-all the different pretty plum colors appeal to me, too-and I also like the pinky-purple of pluots
jyotsna-there's something about a full pantry shelf
steven-I wonder if it would be insane to try to grow stone fruit for sale in PA. I guess peaches and apricots don't always do so well, but plums really seem to thrive.
bakerina-shiros, eh? I looked them up and I think they must be.
farmgirl-last year I gave away a lot of jam at Christmasas, and was given to understand that some more would be welcome. Its nice to have something on hand that doesn't have to be shopped for.
margaret-The plums break down totally, and all the jams are definitely gelled enough for pband j-other fruits retain their shape more, but you can control the size of the pieces by cutting them as you wish.

[lee]

We are on the same page. I made ten jars of apple jelly this weekend so I can further explore Christine Ferber's preserves. Now I'm reading blogs instead of dealling with tons of sweet and sour cherries I bought at market! Also, I have a plum tree that is just loaded but not yet ripe. I'll be posting a lot about jam soon...

[Ivonne]

If you ever open your own jam shop, you can sign me up for a lifetime supply of this gorgeous jam!

[Kimberly]

Oh Lindy, how very lovely.

Here in Seattle, everything is ripe, and I have no kitchen until the end of September. *whimper* I'm freezing a lot of fruit for later use, but it's just not the same.

[Baking Soda]

Stone fruit capital? LOL! I so need a visit to the farmers market, since I have this wonderful book from the library and I copied all the interesting recipes already and now I am itching to try! But like you I have to stock up on jars too. (the small pretty ones always go out faster than you think, I love to give them as presents together with a home made loaf, nice ribbon, pretty fabric...) Do you ever try yard sales or the shops that sell discarded items?

[Rebecca]

Years ago when Jon and Leland were toddlers we lived in Highland Park and a couple of our neighbors had plum trees that bore loads of the Italian prune plums that they just let go to waste the way folks do with mulberries. One year I gathered a whole lot of them up and made a huge batch of plum chutney; I think I got the recipe from a Farm Journal freezing and canning cookbook I have. It was so delicious! Chutneys are wonderful things to make with stone fruit. Your preserves look sublime as well.

[paula leal]

I was so happy to find this recipe for yellow plums....
the first recipe I followed called for Italian plums and I thought 'oh, I can just use what I have....!'...not so...believe me it came out 'suck your face in' tart...'

However, once again I find myself in a small situation...no vanilla bean...oh well, how will nutmeg fit the picture.....and well it did....so twenty pint jars later of yellow plum preserves later......

I have a tree full of the yellow plums here in Sequim, Washington....and they are ripening all at once and I have been freting as to what to do with all of them...I have even frozen some....so we'll see....I am so excited...so the only thing I have substituted is the nutmeg for the vanilla....and tasting the froth ....well its like lemon merangue pie....oops...dosnt matter it tastes great....and I will get vanilla beans for the next time....thanx

[julie]

The vanillia and pepper sound wonderful. I've just started canning for the first time a few weeks ago and Ferber's book is my fave.

The labels on your jars look cute! Where did you buy them ... or did you make them yourself?

[lindy]

julie-Thanks. The labels are from www.myownlabels.com. You can use their templates to design all kinds of labels. Lots of fun. "Wildlife Preserves" is the name of my (imaginary) company.

[Foodelf]

Lindy - I made this jam last year as I have a large and very prolific golden plum tree in my garden. These plums are delicate and seem to suddenly ripen all at once and then become over-ripe very quickly. They aren't suitable for the kinds of pies and tarts for which I use Italian plums and have been challenged for a few years to know what to do with them.

I had a couple of email conversations with you last year during my jam experiment and produced a smallish batch. I tasted it at the time and was quite disappointed that it didn't seem to have the oomph I was hoping for. I stashed the jars away and forgot about them.

During a recent binge of organization and cleaning out, I encountered those jars of jam again almost a year later. I was about to toss them and decided to do another taste test and the jam was FABULOUS. The jam was a little on the tart side (my preference, actually - as very sugary jams don't appeal to me) with a fresh, fruity, yet sophisticated flavour. The pepper was very subtle and I think I might even increase its influence for this year's batch.

I guess it needed to meld and develop its jammy flavours because this jam bore no resemblance to that which I tasted on the day it was made.

My tree is groaning with fruit and although still green, I can tell that this year's harvest is going to be plentiful. I am so delighted to have a terrific use for the plums and will be gifting many friends and colleagues with jars of this gem.

Thanks so much, Lindy!

Best Regards

Foodelf

[Lindy]

Hi foodelf!
I just finished making a small batch of red plum jam this morning, myself. I added vanilla and a single star anise to the batch, and am waiting to see how it turns out when it's melded a bit. It really is surprising how different jam becomes over time, and nearly all of it improves.

I find that usually a month is long enough to wait for it to "bloom". Currently, I'm trying very hard to wait for my strawberry jam, which looks so pretty- I used whole berries- locally grown. It tasted great when I scraped the pan, and this is the first time I've had the strawberry jell properly for me. (I credit my somewhat loony purchase of a lab refractometer, as suggested by Chef Bob,who taught a class I took at the French Pastry school.It measures "brix", or the ratio of sugar in solution in a liquid)

I am quite envious of your access to unlimited yellow plums. I actually planted a dwarf greengage plum in a giant pot on my apartment porch. This is probably a doomed endeavor, but I had to try it- I have no garden,. It made it through the winter and looks very healthy, with lots of new growth- taller than me, but no blooming yet. Wish me luck!

[Zorana]

Hi Lindy,

I LOVE your blog. You are a kindred spirit indeed, from your love of plums, to your opinion on Kingsolver's books!

Listen, I'm lazy and hate getting hot, and have an 11 week old baby. I'm hoping to triple your yellow plum recipe with the gorgeous plums I bought at Niagara on the Lake today (I'm from Toronto.)

Is it a bad idea to triple it? Will I be able to do it all in one huge stock pot, without risking a big bubble over and third degree burns?

[jane webster]

Hi--
I stumbled upon your recipe after a neighbour heaped a bunch of very very ripe yellow plums on us. We haven't made a lot of jams, but decided to try the recipe. It worked out very well for us, with a couple of adjustments. The jam took a long time to boil down as the plums were so very juicy. Also when we tried the mixture, it was too sweet and syrupy so I upped the lemon juice. Oh, and we also left out the pepper, thinking our young kids would balk. We are very pleased with the results and went out this morning to buy baguettes to eat it with. Thanks for the great recipe!
By the way, a note to Zorana: we pretty much doubled the recipe and it worked out fine, but we didn't double the vanilla bean, though one could if they wanted to, I'm sure.