I haven’t been cooking and shooting lately, but I have enough stock to allow me to post archive recipes for some time. As long as I have the mindset to write and edit and publish, I’m safe, and you’re getting recipes 😂
So here it goes

I made this last year and I was experimenting with some dark moody photography but it’s such a pity that I kept these photos stored for a year now. I probably shared one photo as part of a trio of dark moody light tests on Instagram, but the rest are now to be shared.

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This jam idea came after I raided the plum tree at our relative’s land. The fruits were getting really ripe and almost ruined by those hungry birds that pick the best fruit from the tree and poke their beaks into it exposing the flesh inside and leaving it to spoil. I climbed a ladder set by the tree and started picking the ripe red plums and putting them into a crate. My shirt got stained, my arms and hands were sticky, and I’m sure I got leaves in my hair. But it was all in good effort.

Jam making is not hard. All you have to do is cook the fruits with sugar until the mix thickens. The proportion of sugar to fruit depends on the type of fruit and its sweetness/tartness level. The sweeter the fruit type, the less sugar it needs, and vice versa. Through my shop discoveries in Beirut, I’ve seen a producer making a jam by only cooking down the fruits using their natural sugars, but I feel it doesn’t produces the same quality of jam. I believe the sugar (as bad as it may be for the health) enhances the flavors and brings out flavors from the fruit in addition to its preservation qualities.

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For this jam, I used 800g of sugar per kilogram. Deseeded, quartered (or chopped because the plums were sort of collapsing between my fingers), and soaked those plums in sugar overnight in the fridge to release all their juices. Then I boiled them and removed the top scum, then I blended them with a hand blender to pulverize the remaining skins.
That easy.
Store in a jar while the jam is hot and the jar will seal itself as it cools.

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Now what are you waiting for?

I love this jam because it has this bit of tartness to it from the plums and beautiful floral flavor from the type of plums I used. I slather it in a peanut butter sandwich, or on top of my fluffy pancakes.

What are you having this plum jam with?

Try Other Recipes

Strawberry jam recipe-1392 — Strawberry Jam

Caramel biscuit spoculoos lotus biscoff pancakes recipe - cookin5m2-1 — Fluffy pancakes

Homemade Peanut Butter recipe - cookin5m2-4 — Homemade peanut butter

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Plum Jam 2018 - Cookin5m2-024

Plum Jam

Ingredients

1 kg plums*
800g white sugar*
A squeeze of lemon

Procedure

Have some jar that are washed and dried on the side, ready for filling. You can boil them or put them in the oven for extra sterilization, but I didn’t. I just used really hot water to wash them

Also, have a small plate or a metal spoon in the freezer to test the consistency and if the jam is done

Wash and dry the plums
Cut the plums in half, twist to separate, then remove the seed and cut the two pieces into quarters and place in a bowl. In my case, I was barely able to remove the seeds because the plums were very ripe, so they weren’t staying in a full shape, but it doesn’t matter
Once you’re done, weigh the plums and put 80% of that weight in sugar over the plums and give them a stir. For example, if you got 1 kilogram, use 800g of white sugar, and do the math for the other measurements you get
Cover and let them soak up all night in the fridge
On the next day, spoon the content of the bowl into a large non-reactive pot (stainless steel) and start boiling the mix
The mix will bubble and foam. Use a slotted spoon to remove the foam and throw it away
Keep stirring occasionally until the fruits have kind of melted into the juice and the sugar dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly
To test the consistency of the jam, put a plate or a metal spoon in the freezer.
Once you need to test the jam, take the cold plate or spoon out of the freezer and put a bit of the jam on them. If the jam is still runny, then it needs more cooking time. Once the jam doesn’t slide off the spoon or plate, then the jam is ready
Pulverize the jam with a hand mixer while they are still in the pot and let it boil a couple of times before taking it off the heat
Once the jam is cooked, spoon it into the prepared jars, seal, and set aside until they cool
If the jam is cooked properly, it should last for more than a year, but the. color might change. Once opened, either refrigerate, or consume quickly