Plum Jam Recipe – No Pectin Required

by alice on September 12, 2009 · 17 comments

plumjam
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!

ItalianPlums

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!

cutplums
Cutting, pitting, and peeling the plums the good old fashion way.. with my fingers and paring knife.
plumflesh
The fruit of my labor.
lemonjuiceplum
Just a little squeeze of lemon will do.
plumsreducing1
Step 1: Cooking the plums by themselves for a few minutes.
plumsreducing2
Step 2: Adding the sugar to begin the process of reducing and preserving.
plumsreducing3
Step 3: Watching the fruit break down and reducing the liquid.
plumsreducing4
Final Step: Nothing. Congrats, you’re there.
plumjam2

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Barbara September 12, 2009 at 9:05 am

What a gorgeous color! You make it look so easy!

lisaiscooking September 12, 2009 at 11:41 am

I’ve been enjoy these little plums too. Your jam looks fantastic! Wish I could have some for breakfast this morning.

deeba September 12, 2009 at 11:49 am

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

Lauren September 12, 2009 at 12:16 pm

So simple, and easy – looks perfect and delicious to me =D!

Jamie September 12, 2009 at 12:47 pm

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.

alice September 12, 2009 at 12:50 pm

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!

Kamran Siddiqi September 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm

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.

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction September 13, 2009 at 10:33 pm

I am a big fan of jam recipes that don’t require any pectin… so much easier! This looks very tasty!

Gabby September 15, 2009 at 8:24 pm

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?

Kate @ Savour Fare September 16, 2009 at 3:01 pm

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.

alice September 16, 2009 at 3:45 pm

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

jamieofalltrades September 18, 2009 at 1:23 am

Yum! I would love to make this and eat on toast!

Ria September 23, 2009 at 2:20 pm

WOW! That jam looks delcious , Alice! And I love that you omitted pectin here :)

Jeannie September 24, 2009 at 4:46 pm

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!

Danica September 29, 2009 at 9:46 am

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 :)

tom October 16, 2009 at 10:26 am

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.

rick January 31, 2010 at 10:23 pm

Amazing. This recommendation is awesome. The recipe is very natural and requires no unnecessary preservative like pectin.

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