For a long time, plum trees grew in the garden ( I never knew the name of the variety, they were medium-sized fruits with blue haze, peel, yellow juicy pulp and small stone) and there were so many of them in some years that there’s nowhere to go . We made various preparations - we made jam from plums, made thick juice, more like sauce, and also just dried part of the plums, exfoliating them from the seeds. Since the whole crop, while the fruits were still solid, could not be processed, part of the plums over-ripened, the flesh became honey, and the peel was thinned to such an extent that even with the slightest touch it was torn - we made marshmallow from such fruits.
There was always plum jam at home in those years, and they were harvesting so much that they did not eat it in a year.
Jam from plums with a blue peel turns out a very beautiful burgundy color, the main thing is not to digest it, otherwise it can turn into a brown formless substance.
I offer one of the options how to cook jam from plums.
For a kilogram of seedless plum, we take a kilo of two hundred sugar. Cooking usually happens in 3 stages, with a break of several hours (at least 8). So you can safely leave the basin with undercooked jam for the night and boil it the next morning, and then close it for storage.
The cooking technology is this: my fruits, remove the seeds. We prepare the syrup from two glasses of water and 800 grams of sugar (bring, stirring, until boiling and boil until slightly thickened), fill it with plum (hot) and leave it to soak for at least a night. The next day we put the basin on the fire, heat to a boil, and, without boiling further, remove from heat. In this syrup, let the plums stand until the evening, and again put on the fire and bring to a boil, set aside - let it stand until the morning. And for the third time, do exactly the same, with the only difference being that from the remaining 400 grams of sugar to a glass of water, boil the syrup and pour into the main mass with plum, bring everything to a boil. Everything - plum jam according to this recipe is ready, it remains to lay out on sterilized jars and close for storage.
I also liked making jam from plums - I hadn’t done it before, but then I saw the original recipe - let’s think I’ll try to do it - and I didn’t regret it, but how it goes with pancakes - it just flies in! There is only one nuance - try not to leave for a minute at the time of laying sugar, because jam is much thicker than jam from plums and if you distract yourself, it will burn instantly and all the trouble in vain.
And the recipe is this - take a kilogram of ripe plums and a kilogram of sugar, half a glass of water and half a teaspoon of citric acid. Do not try to do a lot at once - the quality will deteriorate, it is better if you like it, cook in several steps. (By the way, the same story is with plum jam - I do not recommend cooking more than 2 kg at a time).
So, the sequence of actions is as follows: we separate the well-washed plums from the seeds, pour water into the basin for cooking the jam and pour the prepared plums there, bring to a boil, and so far we cook for 15 minutes without sugar over a rather large fire, stirring. Sugar will be added in portions (this is an important condition, so I advise you to comply). First pour one glass of sugar when it dissolves, pour the next one and so, stirring, pour the whole kilogram of sugar with a wooden spatula. The foam that forms during boiling over medium heat is removed. Until ready, the jam is boiled for about 40 minutes, the syrup is thick, and should drain with a continuous thin thread. We add citric acid 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
After you pour the hot jam into sterilized hot jars (it will turn out about a liter at the outlet, it is better to prepare small jars), wrap them until it cools down and then store in a dark place. While standing, the jam will turn into jelly. The color of properly boiled jam is amazing!
I hope you enjoy these plum billets!