Jam sugar

Plums always set very well, in fact I used to find that you could stop boiling at an earlier point than with most fruit. It always made a good quantity for the weight of fruit, too, as you were not boiling so much of it away.

Okay, I made the jam, and it looks and tastes okay, but I’m not sure whether the set is a bit firmer than it ought to be. The first test, for a jam virgin such as myself, seemed to be a bit inconclusive, so I gave it another three minutes boiling -eleven minutes in all - and that seemed okay. When I held the plate on its side, the jam sagged but didn’t run. When I tasted some later that I had scraped off a ladle, however, I wondered if it would be spreadable. If I make it again, I think I might use just ordinary sugar. Perhaps the jam sugar introduced too much setting agent into it? Having said that, I always remember as a child plum jam being very firm, but then it had apples in it. I hated it. The resident Jam Meister has declared it very good, so we now have to run it past the Junior Jam Meister when he comes tomorrow. Very grateful for everyone’s input - thank you!

I've just remembered, Greyduster, I also put lemon juice in it and never warm the sugar.
A couple of years ago I bought a jam maker from Lakeland. It's brilliant and took all the hassle away. I just chuck everything in it and leave it.

Well, thank you one and all. I will give it a go tommorrow while DH is out of the way painting. I will use the jam sugar because I’m sick of seeing it in the cupboard. If it all goes pear shaped (or plum shaped!) there will be another lot of plums next year, hopefully! The variety I have is Czar, which is supposed to be a cooking plum. They actually have a nice flavour but are not as juicy as a Victoria.

There are different types of sugar:
www.silverspoon.co.uk/products/preserving-sugar

Preserving sugar is fine for plums as they are high in pectin but fruits such as strawberries need added pectin such as in jam sugar, the bottled pectin or the juice of lemons.

Be careful with plum jam - I ended up with one batch which was like toffee because I thought it wasn't setting!

OOOH this has brought back memories of my Gran making jam. She used to turn her ancient electric oven on low and 'sterilise' her jars for 20 odd minutes and also weigh out the sugar, put it in her roasting tray and put that in the oven to warm it through. We used to joke she could make jam out of pea pods......it was always totally delicious. Mind you she lived in Devon with a direct (and slightly unofficial) line to the local clotted cream dairy and THAT went on everything.

Hi loopyloo, many years ago, someone told me that if the fruit is unsafe for insects after spraying, then how safe is it for Humans? Made me think.

I have made plum jam in the past, (In fact it was the first jam that I made at school) and never needed to use anything to set it. The sugar was ordinary granulated too.
Strawberry Jam though I have only managed to get a good set with bottled Pectin that you buy and add during the cooking process.

No. It might dissolve a bit faster warmed, but it isn't worth the kerfuffle.

Do you need to warm the sugar before adding it to the fruit? Sorry for all the questions!

I've just made 18 jars of plum jam ( in 2 batches) with fruit from our tree. I cut the fruit in quarters after stoning them and add the blanched kernels of some of the stones and some lemon juice and boil gently til soft then add the sugar and boil it hard til set. I use the same method as Marydoll to test for setting. Tried some on toast this morning and it seems ok!!

One recipe I saw had lemon juice in it. Do I need to put that in?

Oh, B9 do let us know what you did as my last lot of strawberry seem to have a good set, and then turned out runny! I usually add red currents or gooseberries or anything else which sets well but these were just strawberries. The wrong sort perhaps.

Unfortunately nearly all of my plums are maggotty. Very disappointing. Next year I am going to spray them. What do you Gns do? Have made some damson jam though. They ere ok.

Not sure what happened to my last lot of strawberry jam, I used ordinary sugar, no pectin because I didn't have any, and assumed it would be runny. I took it off the heat just before it got to 'jam' on the thermometer, poured it into the jar and it had the consistency of nougat, I couldn't get any out when set! So I would say watch the heat on your damson jam (and can we all have some with scones please?)

I put the stones back in after destoning the them Greyduster, and fish them out at the end. It's a bit fiddly, but you get a good set. I always find plums set well anyway.
Use the jam sugar you have.
Put some on a saucer and leave too cool for a minute and if the jam is ready, it will sort of wrinkle across the top.
I'm a bit of a maverick when it come to jam making, but it usually turns out well. I'll make jam from anything in season.
DH is still ploughing through last year's batches.?
Good luck.

That’s about what I do too. Get the boil as hot as you can without it spilling over. I do have a thermometer - somewhere! Plum jam is good to do. Never needed to add Certo.

I just bung the (destoned) plums into my jam pan with a tiny bit of water and the jam sugar in a ratio of 5:4 and boil until the colour chances. It goes sort of translucent.

Never used a recipe. Always works for me.

Go on BBC Food web site, am sure Mary Berry et al will have a good one. From my limited experience with jam you should have much less of a setting problem with plums.....strawberry jam is notorious for having setting issues.