Canning & Preserving
Homemade Plum Jam From Our Ranch
We have two old plum trees on the place that have been here far longer than we have, and in a good season they give us more fruit than we can work up in a single afternoon. We pick and wash the plums, then spend the next few days making batch after batch of traditional Sure-Jell plum jam for the pantry. In a good year it adds up fast — last season we ended up with around 30 quarts.
Before You Start: Canning Safety
Use the recipe insert in your box of pectin and don't swap pectin types or cut the sugar in a full-sugar recipe.
Plum jam is high-acid, so a boiling water bath is appropriate for the time your recipe and altitude call for.
Two old trees and a big harvest
The trees ripen all at once, which means picking happens whether the week is convenient or not. We pick into buckets, wash the fruit in the sink, and set it aside in batches — one batch cooking while the next gets pitted.
Prepping the plums
The plums get washed, pitted, and chopped or crushed — skins left on, since that's where a lot of the color and flavor lives. We measure the prepared fruit carefully for every batch; jam recipes are ratios, not suggestions.
Cooking the jam
Fruit and Sure-Jell come to a full rolling boil, then all the sugar goes in at once and it returns to a rolling boil for one minute. Off the heat, skim the foam, and into hot jars. Then the pot gets rinsed and the next batch goes on.
Filling the pantry
By the time the trees are picked clean, the counter is lined with jars and the pantry shelf is full again. Every batch gets a water bath and a label — it's a few long days of work that feeds us all year.
Printable Recipe Card
Homemade Plum Jam From Our Ranch
Ingredients
- Prepared plums — washed, pitted, and chopped or crushed, measured to your recipe insert
- 1 box Sure-Jell original (yellow box) pectin
- Granulated sugar, measured per the recipe insert
- ½ tsp butter, optional, to reduce foaming
- Half-pint jars with new lids and clean rings
Instructions
- 1Wash, pit, and chop or crush the plums, leaving the skins on, and measure the exact amount your recipe insert calls for.
- 2Stir the pectin into the fruit in a large pot and bring to a full rolling boil.
- 3Add all the sugar at once and return to a full rolling boil for exactly 1 minute.
- 4Remove from the heat and skim the foam.
- 5Ladle into hot jars leaving ¼ inch headspace, wipe the rims, and seat the lids finger-tight.
- 6Process in a boiling water bath for the time your recipe and altitude call for, then cool undisturbed overnight.
Helpful Tips
Leave the skins on — they carry the color and most of the flavor.
Measure the fruit and the sugar before the pot ever goes on the stove.
Plum jam sets a little softer than strawberry. Give it a full day before you judge it.
Products Used
- Water bath canner with rack
- Half-pint jars
- Jar lifter
