First of all you need to find some jars, and clean them very well. First wash them with hot water and soap, and then fill them with hot water with a solution sodiumbicarbonate. Baking powder is good. Washing soda also works. The jars need to be this clean because you do not want your jam to become the food of some nasty yeast or other micro-organism.
When your jars are clean, put them upside down so that nothing falls in them (there are many fungal spores in the air, and they can and will fall into the jars if you don`t cover them or put them upside down). Then it is time to get on with the fruit. A good way to go about this is gather the family and make them all help you de-stone and slice the washed plums.
For the 3000 grams of plums we had we used this recipe:
Equal mass of gelatine-containing sugar for the mass of fruit.
Then heat this up. If it is necessary, add some water in the beginning to keep the fruit and sugar from burning. This water will evaporate out later. Per 1.5 kg add the juice of 1 lemon, and the zest of half one. Also boil about 10 cm of cinnamon stick into the mix.
Once the fruit begins to get softer and broken down, fish out the cinnamon-sticks and take a stick-blender and blend all the fruit untill it is a homogenous mass. Now you can put the cinnamon back in and boil it for a few minutes more. You`ll notice it`ll start thickening. The jam will thicken further after it has cooled down and the gelatine sets. When it is done, use a sterilized spoon to pour it in the jars. Be careful that the rim of the jar stays clean.
The jars should be put upside down while cooling. When it cools the volume of the jam decreases. This creates a small underpressure in the jar. Putting the jars upside down helps to preserve an airtight seal.
Cooling takes quite a while. I left them out overnight. The next day you are all set to enjoy all the jam you made. Here is our productions, minus some jars we have already given away.
When your jars are clean, put them upside down so that nothing falls in them (there are many fungal spores in the air, and they can and will fall into the jars if you don`t cover them or put them upside down). Then it is time to get on with the fruit. A good way to go about this is gather the family and make them all help you de-stone and slice the washed plums.
For the 3000 grams of plums we had we used this recipe:
Equal mass of gelatine-containing sugar for the mass of fruit.
The jars should be put upside down while cooling. When it cools the volume of the jam decreases. This creates a small underpressure in the jar. Putting the jars upside down helps to preserve an airtight seal.
Cooling takes quite a while. I left them out overnight. The next day you are all set to enjoy all the jam you made. Here is our productions, minus some jars we have already given away.
We have now used about half of our plum-reserves. Today I will look into making plum-wine that should get us through another 3 kilos. My sister is looking into fruit-drying. That is something I know nothing about, and it will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Maybe I can interest her in a guest-article on here.
No comments:
Post a Comment