friederike's Reviews
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Jams and Preserves
By Gina Steer
Parragon Inc - 2007
Plum Jam / Pruimenjam : page 20
Bit of a disappointment. I believe the main problem was far too much sugar - it was unbelievably sweet while it was cooking, so sweet you could hardly taste the plums at all. This got better once the jam cooled down, but you can still hardly taste the plums. I also added the juice of a whole lemon to tone down the sweetness.
I was also baffled at the suggestion of adding 500ml water. I added 300ml water and definitely wouldn't add more. The jam ended up being slightly too stiff, though that would mainly be because I let it cook much longer than it ought to.
Right at the end I had the idea of adding a crushed cardamom pod - good idea but far too late, should have done that in the beginning.
Edited 16 September 2012:
If you don't know what else to make, use it in a salad dressing such as this one - very delicious!
Edited 22 September 2013:
I gave it another shot. I used this recipe (and especially my notes!) as a vague guideline. I used 1kg plums, 330g preserving sugar 1:3, the black pits of three cardamom pods in a teabag that I subsequently managed to tear, three cracked plum pits, also in that teabag, a bit of cinnamon and only 50ml water to prevent the plums from burning until they have released enough juices.
The jam still looked very liquid, but I had learned my lesson and made a saucer test early on, which told me that the jam was ready. I also used a thermometer (something I learned from the Fig and Balsamic Jam from Ad Hoc at Home), but it barely reached 210°F (I just checked this book on preserves and it says a preserve should reach 212°F/100°C, so in fact my temperature was fine).
I also made a small batch Plum Butter today; we'll see which one turns out to be the better one.
The original jam I made two years ago following this recipe has since then been nicknamed "food glue".
Edited 8 September 2014:
I made another batch, using 2 kg plums, 660 g preserving sugar 1:3, about 80 ml water, six cracked plum pits and the black pits of five cardamom pods in this metal herb container (so useful!), and proceeded just like last year. It reached the right temperature pretty quickly, and it might have become a bit too hard too soon, but we'll see, I still have to open a jar. Next year I'll have to remember making jam in August as plums will be at their peak then.
useful (1)