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.
Maitreyee says
How many cups does this make? I don’t know how many jars to get.
Iris says
My jam has been cooking about 40 minutes. Can I put the jam in jars and store them in the pantry or do they need to be refrigerated? I also made some using Nevella (sweetner).
Kathy says
Well, I have never made jam before.This is so easy. The plum jam is the best that I have ever tasted. It is lovely and thick and I did leave the skins on but took the pips out. It is a beautiful dark plum in color. Will use this recipe in future to make my own jam. Thank you.
Gerhard says
I tried this recipe without pectin and it didn’t work at all. My jam was completely runny.
Allison says
Easiest first jam recipe ever. Tastes awesome. Thanks!
Cori says
I made this recipe today with plums from our neighbor’s tree. I doubled the recipe and used lime juice. I did not peel the plums just chunked them up. Leaving the peelings on gave the jam a beautiful rosey red color. Tart but I liked not using so much sugar!
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Dana Quenneville says
I blanched my plums to skin them (like you would do peaches or tomatoes) and the color changed to a beautiful red/pink, there was less waste of flesh and i just pulled the skin off with my fingers. This jam is yummy and beautiful.
Diana says
4 hours! I think mine cooked for less then an hour. Did you chop them first? There are a few chunks in mine but that’s not a negative in my opinion. You could use a stick blender if you like it smooth though. What kind of plums do you have? Mine are an Italien plum although my volunteer plum trees are green plums which I still need to process. Today I’m canning green tomato chutney!
melinda says
oh and they were started on stove abt 4 hours ago….
melinda says
so i am making this with plums and left skin on..its cooking but its chunky…any ideas???
Diana says
But the peels add so much flavor and turn the jam a lovely plum color, try making your jam without peeling! I use about 8 cups chopped plums, 2 cups sugar and the juice of one small lemon to start and add more sugar if necessary. I’ve already canned 16 pints of whole plums in light(10%) syrup and now I have my first batch of plum jam simmering. We picked about 40 lbs off our little tree! Next I’m making peachbutter from the 80! pounds of peaches also from a single tree. It’s been a bumper fruit year here.
Maribel says
Thanks for your recipe…my family loved it!!!
Leslie says
How well did the jam turn out using the food processor and keeping the skins? I was thinking of doing the same thing.
Kristen says
Amazing recipe. Just tried it. Tastes great. Thank you so much!!!!
Lisa says
This recipe worked perfectly. I added a tiny splash of vanilla and a little cinnamon. I also substituted raw sugar for regular. Delicious.
Diana says
How long will they last done this way? How do you store & where?
Cindy says
So then could that same recipe be used with other fruits, to make jam? Thank you so much
Donna says
Can I substitute lime juice instead of lemon??
Cheryl says
I am trying this now, however, I left the skins and put all in a Ninja food processor. It is cooking now so I hope it turns out for me too! Thank you..
Feather says
Can you make jelly without pectin?
Shellie says
Lovely easy recipe! Thanks! I also added 4 cloves and a sprinkle of cinnamon – slight spice. Yummy!
tiffany says
Thanks! Turned out great~
Michael says
I really enjoyed this recipe. Thanks.
James says
Does it set like a normal jam? And how do you preserve it?
Elle says
A cup is 250 mL.