Plum Jam always reminds me of my maternal grandmother, my gran was a great jam maker, every year she made raspberry, strawberry, and blackcurrant. However, it is my Gran’s Plum Jam I remember best of all. because she cooked the plums with the stones in and you had to pick them out and put them on the side of your plate when you spread the jam on your bread and butter!
You’ll be pleased to know that I took the stones out of my jam as I would hate someone to crunch down on one and break their teeth – eek! This recipe for Easy Plum Jam is really very simple and as plums are high in pectin, you will have no difficulty getting it to set. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s such a pretty colour.
Plum Jam Recipe
A recipe for a simple jam using dessert plums, ideal to spread on bread and butter, scones or Scotch pancakes.
- 900 g 2lb dessert plums (weight without stones)
- 4 tbsp water
- 900 g 2lb sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 knob butter approx 1 tsp
- Halve the fruit and remove the stones.
- Wash your jars and place in a low oven (see notes).
- Put into a large pan with the water and cook gently until the plums are soft but not disintegrated.
- Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Bring to the boil and boil rapidly, remove from the heat after after 5 minutes and test for set (see notes).
- When setting point has been reached, skim off the most of the froth (scum) into a bowl (you can still eat this, it's not dirty just frothy) then add the knob of butter which will disperse the remaining scum.
- Let it cook for about 15 minutes so the fruit settles and doesn't sink to the bottom of the jars.
- Ladle into sterilised jars and leave to cool before sealing.
To Sterilise jars: thoroughly wash the jars, rinse in cold water, then turn upside down on a baking tray. Place in the oven and turn the heat on very low leave for about 15 minutes, remove just before filling.
To Test for Set: After about 5 mins, spoon a little jam onto a cold saucer. Place it back in the fridge for 2 minutes then push the jam with your fingertip. If it wrinkles, the jam is ready. If not, cook for a few mins more and test again, with another cold saucer. If you have a sugar thermometer, it will read 105C when ready.
How to make Easy Plum Jam
Only plums, sugar, water and lemon juice are needed to make this simple and delicious jam. Halve the plums and remove the stones, put them into a large pan, I use the base of my pressure cooker.
The plums will soften quite quickly in the water and lemon juice then you can add the sugar, be sure that the sugar is fully dissolved before bringing to the boil. For more information and video clip of what a rolling boil looks like and how to tell if your jam is set using the wrinkle test, check out my Fig & Lime Jam recipe.
I always think there is something rather magical about the way fruit and sugar transform into jam and, what a glorious colour this Plum Jam turned out to be. The colour may vary depending on the type of plums that you use, but somehow it always looks like glowing jewels, or am I being fanciful?
Here are more recipes using plums from top UK bloggers:
Plum and Almond Traybake – Farmersgirl Kitchen
Easy Roasted Plums with Star Anise – Supper in the Suburbs
Cinnamon Spice Pancakes with Cinnamon Poached Plums – Farmersgirl Kitchen
Plum Jelly – Kavey Eats
Duck and Plum Salad – Farmersgirl Kitchen
Mini Damson Madeira Loaves – Baking Queen 74
Plum Almond and Apple Tarte Tatin – Foodie Quine
Grilled Plums with Minted Couscous and Almonds – Thinly Spread
Plum and Almond Crumble Cake – Family, Friends, Food
Plum and Fig Cheesecake – Lovely Appetite
Hungarian Plum Cake – Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Glyn Purnell’s Duck with Spiced Plum Jam – Gingey Bites
Apple Plum Galette – Little Sunny Kitchen
I love this time of year, not least for the plums and making jams, jellies, chutneys and even plum wine!
Yes, me too! We used to make plum wine but it was tricky as it has so much pectin.
Love the look of the plum jam, I will defo make some soon!
Thanks Lorna, enjoy!
Deliciousness! I think plum and damson jam are my two favourites to make, they are so easy and so tasty and rarely to be found on a supermarket shelf. Yours is a glorious colour, makes me want to just dive in! Thanks so much for sharing my grilled plums recipe too 🙂
They really are and I wish .I still had access to damsons!
Your plum jam looks glorious, I’ve been wanting to get the jam pan out for ages. When my hob is finally installed this will be one of the first things I make! Thanks for including my recipe.
Thank you so much. That must be so frustrating for you Lucy.
I adore plums. You can’t beat a ripe one! Though I do often find that supermarket plums are a little tasteless. This is a great way of using up a glut.
Yes, they can be a bit tasteless, but not in jam 🙂
I have to be honest, I’ve never tried plum jam before. But I love plums, and would really love to try the jam. Maybe I’ll make some next week!
If you love plums you will definitely like the jam, it’s super easy to make. Enjoy!
I love the freshness of home made jams, plums being one of my favourites. I take the stones out and crack them, wrap the little pieces inside in muslin and cook them with the jam – this helps with the setting as the pectin is inside the stones.
Think I attempted plum jam once, years ago, but it didn’t set and was very runny. Tasted good though but it intimidated too much until now. Maybe I should try again!
Oh that’s a shame. I think it depends on the plums. To be extra sure of set crack the stones from the plums and put them in a muslin bag which you boil along with the jam, that will give you extra pectin.
I absolutely LOVE plum jam! My nana used to make it for me when I was growing up. This takes me back. Looks so delicious 😀
It must be a grandmother thing! Thanks for your kind comments.
I grew up with stones in damson jam, so sort of used to it, but definitely prefer it without. Love plum jam, though I have to say my current favourite is your fig and lime – mmmm!
Aw thank you. Yes, I suppose the stones were part of the fun when you are a child
Never tried making a jam myself to be honest, but this one does not look too complicated so I will give it a go ! Plus- plum jam is actually my favourite.
It really isn’t very difficult, let me know how you get on.
Hello, can you let me know how much jam this recipe makes? It’s my first time making jam and I want to make sure I have enough jars (or not too many!). Thank you
Hi Jackie, Thank you for getting in touch, I’m delighted that you are making the Easy Plum jam. You should get about 4 standard jars of jam from this recipe. Good Luck!
Approximately how many jars of jam does this recipe make?
Hi Sue, Thanks for getting in touch. You will get about 3-4 jars of jam depending on the size of your jars. I hope you enjoy the jam.
I love making my own jam. sadly my plum tree has yet to have enough fruit for me to make jam with. I made roasted greenage jam last year and it was devine.
I have to buy my plums for jam as I don’t have a plum tree…yet! Love green gages too, they make wonderful jam.
Fabulous jam, great recipe thanks
Thank you, Adam. I’m glad you enjoyed it.