So about these plums. The final end result of this canning day didn’t quite end up like I thought it would when it started. I had been eying this particular recipe for ‘Plum Jam’ since it was published in the September 2010 issue of Food Network magazine. I missed plum season last year, so I made sure I didn’t miss the season this summer. All was fine and dandy, until I didn’t exactly read the directions. Well I did, just really fast, skim through it, kind of reading it. Then when it was almost done cooking down, I decided to whip out my immersion blender and sauce it up. I still like it okay. It’s not bad, but not knocking my socks off either. Next year I would like to remake it with just plums and no cinnamon. Maybe I’ll get completely crazy and follow the original recipe.
So, what follows is my adaption of Plum Jam from Food Networks magazine that I have aptly renamed.
Sugar Plum Sauce
1.5 pounds plums – pitted and cut into 1 inch pieces
1.5 pounds apricots – pitted and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans
2 cinnamon sticks
juice from one lemon
In a wide sauce pan (I use my dutch oven for all my jams), combine all of the ingredients over medium to high heat until sugar dissolves and and begins to boil. Stir frequently. Continue to boil for about 10 minutes to insure the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook and stir, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Usually at this point things start changing, as with any fruit jam/spread that you’ve cooked for a longer period of time without using pectin.
I tasted a few times while it was cooking and realized it just wasn’t ‘vanilla’ enough for me. I scooped out the beans and added a dash or two of vanilla extract then scraped the beans out of the vanilla pods and added those back to the pot. I also noticed that I really couldn’t taste any cinnamon from the sticks. So, I fished those out as well and added a couple shakes of powered cinnamon. In hindsight, I wish I had left the cinnamon out completely. Not that it doesn’t taste good, it does, I just think I would have liked it a lot more without it’s addition.
Once I made all those little changes, I really wasn’t happy with the overall texture. At the last minute, I removed the pot from stove and blended it all together with an immersion blender. After everything was blended up and nice and saucy, I returned the pot to the stove and cooked the sauce for maybe another 10 minutes. Remove from heat once more when you reach your desired consistency and fill hot, sterilized half pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes.
yields 4 half pints
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Happy canning!
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