Homemade apple and plum jam

A recent trip to the supermarket reminded me that plums are in season. I did went a little berserk loading up on those indigo black plums and ended up with about 2kg of them.

I could probably think about a hundred things you can do with plums. My favourite has to be the comforting and rustic apple and plum crumble. I decided to go with the apple and plum combination but in a different form.

Jam is a probably the best way of preserving the goodness of these summer fruits and once you have tried homemade, you would turn your nose up at the versions that are being sold in stores.

I found out that this glistening ruby red jam goes perfectly with a toasted, buttery brioche. It is beautiful when you can bite into the bits of fruit with a hint of warm cinnamon. What a beautiful way to begin a long weekend – a warm buttery brioche, just made apple and plum jam, a pourover and welcoming sunrays filtering in through the curtains.

If you are interested in making the brioche, do drop by Fanny’s blog for a detailed write up and recipe for this  5-minute brioche.  I usually use a more laborious recipe but this one, like its name suggest, require so little time and effort and I do say it produces pretty fluffy and flavourful results.

 

Recipe: Apple & plum jam
Makes about 1.4 litres of jam (approximately 5-6 regular jam jars)

Ingredients:
1kg plums
600g royal gala/red delicious apples
water
960g fine sugar
4 tsp pectin
Juice of 1.5 lemons
1 cinnamon stick, broken into halves

Method:
1. Scrub the skins of the plums. Using a paring knife, slice the plums into half and remove the stones.

2. Peel of the skins of the apples, remove the seeds and slice it into wedges.

3. Place the plums and apples into a pot and fill it with water until it just covers the fruits. Bring the water to a simmer so that the fruits will soften.

4. When the fruits have soften, add the sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and pectin and bring it to a rapid boil, stirring occasionally. Remove any scum on the surface of the jam by using a strainer.

5. Turn it down to a medium-low heat and continue to cook the jam until it thickens and gels – should be roughly 104 degrees celcius, the setting point for jams.

6. Pour your hot jam into hot sterilised glass or mason jars and seal while still hot. Leave the jars out to cool completely before storing.

Tips for jammin’:
*To sterilise the glass jar, wash the jar and lid with hot water and soap. Rinse well and place the jar in a preheated oven at 160 degrees celcius for 15- 20 minutes or until dry. 

*You can test if you jam is set by spooning a dollop of jam onto a cold plate that has been chilled in the freezer. Return the plate into the freezer until the jam cools. You can then take it out to check if the jam is runny or not, it should hope slightly when you push it slightly with your finger.

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