Homemade Plum Jam

Did I mention having a lot of plums from my uncle's garden? Well, when we still had to finish the container of plums that was sitting in the fridge, a relative brought yet another bucket of them. So together with my mom, we decided to make jam out of them in order to keep wastage to a minimum.

My mom was the one who started the process, so I can't tell you just how much sugar she put. Most sites seem to recommend putting 1:1 ration of fruits to sugar in weight. I think that may be excessive, and depends on how ripe the fruits are.

I had cut about half the plums in half to remove the pit, but my mom threw the rest into the pot whole, which I don't recommend (unless the pits are very very hard to remove). As we cooked, I had to find and remove every pit that came loose from the flesh, which was not a fun job, especially since they stopped floating once the jam began thickening.

Near the beginning, once the juice started boiling, I threw in a small amount of butter, which makes the jam richer, and also prevents foaming. The rest of the process is just simmering the fruits until thickened and set.

I then sterilized the jars in boiling water, lids included (they were old jam jars from some jams we had bought at the supermarket, hence the "fraise (strawberry)" label on the right jar). Putting the jam in hot, then closing it to ensure that no bacteria sneaked their way in. Once the jars cooled, I stuck on my homemade labels, which say "Plum Jam, August 3, 2014."