Jam On It

As promised in the Purple Plum post, I attempted my first jam.  At first, I was only going to make freezer jam.  (One of the things my father instilled in me was a healthy fear of botulism.)  However, when I went shopping for pectin, I was seduced by the mason jars. I decided it couldn't be that hard.

Inspired by the Cinnamon Plum Tea Jam from Stonewall Kitchen and Republic of Tea (which was sadly discontinued), I settled on a recipe for Cinnamon Plum Jam from allrecipes.com.

I read the directions over and over and over.  I sterilized everything in a giant pot of boiling water.

I ground the plums in the food processor.  They looked remarkably unappetizing.

And then something magical happened.  The yellow pulp and the purple skins became the most beautiful shade of garnet.  It was jam!  I ladled it into jars and did the boiling water process thing so as to avoid the whole botulism thing.  I let the jars cool.  I pressed the lids.  No thwucka-thwucka.  Nice.

I put what didn't fit in jars directly into the refrigerator.  A couple of hours later, I tasted.  The good news is that it tastes amazing.  The bad news is that it didn't completely set.  (The comments made on the recipe hinted that this might be a problem, solved by adding more pectin.  I had only bought one box, though, so I did not try this.)  The other good news is that the soupy texture I have may be better suited to being poured over waffles or ice cream, both of which are way better than toast.

For my first attempt at jam, I'm quite satisfied.  I have a feeling the fruits of my labors (I know, I know) will be popping up in other culinary endeavors.  I'm thinking a tart, maybe some thumbprint cookies.  Definitely some grown-up spin on PB&J.  Stay tuned and...


Keep it sweet. Pin It