Plum Jam

This jam made of black plums is tart as well as tasty. It makes a nice spread for bread as well as being a filling for one of my most favorite desserts, Pączki. My grandfather once claimed that plums were one of the things he missed most from his native Croatia, so perhaps my love of plum products is genetic. Either, way, plum jam does not receive nearly enough attention in North America for some strange reason, to remedy this situation you should give it a try!

Makes ~2.25 L of plum jam

Ingredients:

-12 cups of ripe black plums, pitted

-1 ½ cups sugar

-1/8 cup rum

1) Store several spoons in the freezer before beginning, you’ll use those for evaluating how well the jam will jell

2) Three pots should be used for this recipe

-The first is used for sterilizing jars, to sterilize them, fill half the pot with water, insert the jam jars you plan on using and bring the water to a boil, the water must boil for 10 minutes to be extra safe.

-The second pot is used to boil the lids for your jars, the portions that have rubber seals

-The third pot must be quite large and is used for the actual jam making

3) In the pot, throw the plums and sugar together, heat on medium high heat until soft, mash and mix constantly with a potato masher.

4) Once the mixture has become a rich purple colour and somewhat syrupy, add the rum, continue stirring

5) After approximately 20 minutes, the mixture should be thick, test it on a cold spoon, the texture it holds upon touching it should give you a rough approximation of what the jam will be like the next day.

6) Remove the jars and lids from the boiling water as you need them, pouring the jam into the jars and leaving half an inch of headspace between the jam and lid, quickly screw the rings onto the lids, sealing the jam.

7) Let the jam sit 24h, store in a cool dark place