Plum Jam Recipe (No Peel, No Pectin!) (2024)

FAQs

Do you remove skin from plums before making jam? ›

The skins completely broke down during the cooking process into a deliciously sweet jam. The skins also contain a lot of pectin, which helps the jam gel. So here's my advice: leave the skin on the plums. Even if you don't like plum skin, you won't be able to tell!

If you're using a loose-stone variety of plum, you can simply cut them around the equator, twist the halves apart, and discard the pits. But for clingstone varieties, like these elephant heart plums, it's easiest to cut the pit out with a knife.

Lemons - Juice of one lemon and zest. Sugar - To help thicken and sweeten. I don't recommend substituting for a sugar alternative. Cornstarch - Optional, but works well as a thickener in place of pectin.

Jam made without pectin is a little softer and looser than jam made with pectin, but learning this technique means that you can make jam at almost any time with ingredients you probably have on hand.

So if you use pieces of fruit or whole berries, you are actually using less fruit than if it were mashed, or cooked to a mash and then measured, and you will get a firmer jell. Or you may have used more pectin than the recipe called for. For example, if you used Tablespoons of pectin rather than teaspoons.

The natural pectin in fruits and vegetables thickens jams. If there isn't enough pectin in the fruit itself and you don't add extra pectin, the result is runny jelly or jam. Additionally, if the fruit is overripe, its pectin levels are lower.

Homemade fruit preserves can last for up to year or even longer if it is unopened and stored in a cool, dry place, such as a pantry or kitchen cupboard. However the flavour and texture of your jam will start to deteriorate after around 6 months, even if you keep them tightly sealed.

Wash and dry the plums gently, then cut them in half to remove the stones. From here you can freeze them whole or slice them first, which makes them easier to use.

To make jam, choose plums that have a rich, deep color and skin that is firm but not taut. Just ripe plums are best for jam making—the peel will come off easily; overripe plums will be sticky and will easily split and may not make as tasty jam.

With a simple lemon juice trick, your homemade jam will achieve your desired thick texture. Preparing jam is about capturing the sweet essence of the fruit while simultaneously cooking it down to the perfect syrupy consistency.

What did people use before pectin? ›

The earliest fruit preserves would be made by mixing fruit pulp with honey and allowing it to dry in the sun, creating a texture more like that of a jellied sweet. The high-pectin quince lent itself to making this well-set fruit preserve.

Strawberry jam with added pectin can be cooked in as little as ten minutes, preserving that fresh berry flavor and quality. Strawberry jam without added pectin needs to be cooked up to four times longer to reach the gel stage, resulting in a much sweeter, less fresh-tasting jam.

Pectin supplements may cause gas or bloating in some people. If you are allergic to apples or citrus, avoid these supplements.

In the United States, early New England settlers preserved fruits with honey, molasses or maple sugar. In those days, pectin (the substance that puts the “jell” in jelly) was made from apple parings.

The Joy of Cooking has a lot to say about pectin and canning. Its authors are adamantly against the use of commercial pectin because they feel its use require the addition of too much sugar, to the point where you lose the essence of the original fruit.

The skin of the plum is safe to eat and provides a sharper flavor than the flesh. Slice the plum into wedges for breakfast, salads, or smoothies.

Place the plums in a pot of boiling water for about 45 seconds, then carefully remove them with a slotted spoon. Immediately transfer the plums to a bowl of ice water and leave them there for about 5 minutes. Once they've chilled, slide your finger under one of the flaps formed by the X you cut, and peel the skin back.

Chop 1 pound unpeeled yellow peaches into 1/2-inch pieces

And while leaving the skins on the fruit for your jams and preserves is a personal choice, they recommend it for the color it lends the finished jam—and for the fact that the skin imparts more peach flavor.

Colleen suspects it's to do with the breakdown of sugars that give that bitter taste. When you're cooking the sugars at high heat you get non-enzymatic browning, which occurs either through caramelisation or something called the Maillard reaction. That is an interaction of proteins and sugars.