A few days ago my neighbor Jill stopped by with a bag full of ripened Italian plums just picked from her trees minutes earlier. Instantly I knew I would have to make plum jam using the vibrant orangish-peach flesh. All the jams I’ve made this year have been made without using pectin and are ridiculously easy to make. Plum jam is no exception. All you need is fruit, or in this case plums, sugar, and a squeeze of lemon. That is it. Pretty easy huh? So make some plum jam with the bounty of the season. Enjoy!
Easy No-Pectin Plum Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped plums, peels removed
1 cup sugar
1 Tbl. lemon juice
Directions:
Cook plums and lemon juice on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add sugar and stir until everything is well combined. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes until the thickness of the jam has been reduced to the consistency of thick honey or 220 F. degrees stirring occasionally. Skim off the foam, remove from heat, and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Cutting, pitting, and peeling the plums the good old fashion way.. with my fingers and paring knife.
The fruit of my labor.
Just a little squeeze of lemon will do.
Step 1: Cooking the plums by themselves for a few minutes.
Step 2: Adding the sugar to begin the process of reducing and preserving.
Step 3: Watching the fruit break down and reducing the liquid.
Final Step: Nothing. Congrats, you’re there.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
What a gorgeous color! You make it look so easy!
I’ve been enjoy these little plums too. Your jam looks fantastic! Wish I could have some for breakfast this morning.
Fabulous…what an easy & delightful recipe. I love pairing & peeling the old fashioned way. Gorgeous colour here. Sniff Alice, our plums are long gone. Now the wait for next year begins. BTW, your new pic is gorgeous…very very nice! xoxo
So simple, and easy – looks perfect and delicious to me =D!
This is my kind of jam (never made it before cause it always seemed so difficult). And we are getting gorgeous, sweet purple plums now. But one question: PEELING those babies? Really? Is there and easier way? Cooking then straining? It looks so good, I’d really love to try it.
Jamie: Some people leave the skin on. I prefer mine off because I will use the jam in other recipes using it as a glaze. To peel the skin off was not difficult, just use your fingers or a pairing knife. A little work involved but certainly worth it! Happy Jamming to you!
Alice, what a beautiful Jam! Lately, I have been making tons of jams, which has been fun. I haven’t gotten to the plum jam yet, but I’ll use your recipe instead.
I am a big fan of jam recipes that don’t require any pectin… so much easier! This looks very tasty!
I was wondering. Since it doesn’t have pectin. How long does it last? Do you keep it in the fridge. Can it sit in a cabinet. Can you use prune plums instead?
I’m completely addicted to plum jam and will be bereft when there are no more plums in the markets to jam. I always make mine with the peels on, one because I’m lazy, and two, because it gives the jam the most gorgeous purplish pinky color. But I like my jam chunky (I think seedless raspberry jam is an abomination) so I have no issue with bits of peel.
Thanks everyone for your comments!
Gabby: I asked some canning experts on Twitter and this is what I learned. Yes it will keep in the fridge just like normal jam would. You can can it as well because pectin is a thickening agent and not a preserving one. If you want to keep it on the shelf you must can it. As for as using prune plums.. I googled prune plums and I’m still unclear as to what variety of plums it is.. but I’m pretty sure you can use any type of ripe plums. Hope that helps!
Alice
Yum! I would love to make this and eat on toast!
WOW! That jam looks delcious , Alice! And I love that you omitted pectin here
Alice, I just discovered your wonderful site via Megan at Not Martha and have fallen in love! What a wonderful world you have! My plum tree has given me the most lovely plums for the first time ever. I made your plum jam several times over this morning. I did process it for 5 minutes so that I could put it in my pantry. I love the simplicity, flavor and smallness of this recipe! Small batching is where it’s at..just enough to have fun but still allows the flexibility to do other things during the day. Can’t wait to use my jam for your plum sauce! Thank you so much!
I LOVE that you didn’t use Pectin! This recipe is 100% clean and healthy all the way. It looks so amazing too. I never thought of making plum jam but now I want to
Leave the peels on if you want a really beautiful jam and don’t want to waste your time peeling. The peels have at least half the goodness in them! If you want to use it as a glaze, you could run it through a sieve after cooking the fruit.
Amazing. This recommendation is awesome. The recipe is very natural and requires no unnecessary preservative like pectin.