Plum Jam: 16 recipes

Not a single summer cottage is complete without a home plum. It is not as smart as a pear or an apple, it does not lure with sweetness, like cherries, but the owners are looking forward to its ripening. For some, plum becomes the material for a delicious homemade tincture, while others simply lick their lips in anticipation of jam or compote. Unfortunately, the plum is not stored for a long time, and a rich harvest brings troubles associated with its processing. Plums can be frozen, but they are rarely used in this way. After defrosting, it loses its attractive appearance and turns into an unappetizing porridge. Most often, it is dried and canned in the form of compotes. The most popular way was and remains the preparation of jam. There are a lot of recipes. Those who are not familiar with this variety should cook everything and a little in order to evaluate the taste personally.

Composition and calorie content

The story of plum is shrouded in mystery. In the wild, it almost never occurs. To get the home version, scientists crossed cherry plum and thorns. Many botanists are inclined to conclude that this happened in nature, only in a natural way, especially since the areas of growth of thorns and cherry plum almost coincide.

Interesting: often the turn is called wild plum.

In any case, the experiment on crossing species was successful. Breeders began to develop it, introducing more and more new varieties that differ in size and color, level of sweetness and ripening time. The composition of all varieties is almost the same, indicators of fruit sugars and vitamins differ. Plum contains:

• vitamins A, E, PP, C, B;
• polyphenols;
• fiber;
• potassium;
• magnesium;
• iron;
• anthocyanins;
• organic acids;
• pectin.

Calorie content is small, only 49 kcal per 100 g of product. Plum is recommended in dietary foods to speed up the removal of toxins and normalize digestion.

It is worth considering: scientists have not yet determined the ownership of plums. The debate is between the definitions of “fruit” and “berry”. While the spears are breaking down in scientific disputes, the owners of garden plots take a basket or bucket and collect a crop of fragrant fruits, fortunately, that plum bears fruit for 10-15 years annually.

What is the benefit of plum jam

With minimal heat treatment, almost all useful substances and properties of the fruits are preserved.

Plum has a mild laxative effect, which is very important for people suffering from disorders of the digestive system. It is recommended to eat 3-4 large fruits every day for those who are diagnosed with hemorrhoids, as well as with general slagging of the body.

1. The vitamin complex and calcium in the composition of the fruits strengthen bone tissue, maintain its density at an advanced age, and prevent the development of osteoporosis.
2. The fruits of plum tree are known as a powerful antidepressant, even the aroma of ripe plums can lead to a good mood and relieve impending depression.
3. Several plums per day accelerate regeneration and strengthen immunity, which allows you to survive the time of seasonal epidemics without coughing and a stuffy nose.
4. The pulp of ripe fruits helps the absorption of iron and improves blood counts, regulates its coagulability, accelerates the formation of red blood cells.

The regular use of fresh or dried fruits significantly slows down the aging process, relieves the severity of menopausal syndrome, speeds up metabolism and removes free radicals. Plum is recommended to maintain visual acuity, restore memory, increase attention span, eliminate skin problems, and reduce the risk of cancerous tumors.

How to choose a plum for jam

In the process of long work, breeders bred a large number of varieties, sometimes little resembling an ancestress, a small oval plum of a blue-gray hue with fibrous pulp and almost undetachable bone. Now the color palette ranges from almost white, golden to burgundy and navy blue. Size also varies from giants to very miniature varieties, more reminiscent of thorns. For preparation, it is not color and size that are especially important, but the fact - the bone is separated from the pulp or not.

For the preparation of winter stocks, it is better to choose domestic varieties recently torn from a branch. A product brought from afar is most often harvested unripe. It tastes like a sponge for washing dishes. There will be no special juiciness and aroma from such fruits, the price will not please either. In season, an abundance of plums of all varieties and shades is observed on collective and farmer markets. Most often on the shelves there are such varieties:

• Anna Shpet.
• Hungarian.
• Russian golden.
• Honey.
• Glowworm.
• Skoroplodnaya.
• Red meat is big.
• Morning.
• Volga beauty.

In order to choose a plum for jam, you need to decide on the recipe. There are a lot of them in folk bins and cookbooks, and they choose the fruits in accordance with the planned result. So, for cooking in halves, it is necessary that the bone easily move away from the pulp, for the preparation of jam or jam this is immaterial. Anyway, then you will have to grind the mass to remove the skin, at the same time and the seeds will be selected.

For an elegant holiday option, you can take 2 varieties of different shades. A bright golden color during the cooking process will change to a more delicate one, but the difference in the color of dark and light species will remain.

The main selection criteria are:

• product freshness;
• uniformity of color of fruits without dark spots and dents;
• lack of wine smell.

And, also, the elasticity of the pulp: too hard indicates that the fruit is not ripe, a soft surface that moves under the fingers says that the plum ripened or lay for a long time after being removed from the branches.

Only ripe fruits are needed for jam, then they will generously give away the juice and will not give an astringent taste.

How to cook plum jam: recipes

The treat is prepared in a classic way and with the addition of various ingredients.

It is worth considering: plum refers to acidic fruits, even the sweetest variety requires an increased amount of sugar.

Five minute

The most useful jam, preserving the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals. The bottom line is to boil the fruit mass and immediately tightly roll into jars. Such a treat is tasty and healthy, but you should not get involved in it if you do not want to get an upset stomach. 1.4–1.5 kg of granulated sugar are taken per 1 kg of fruit. The ingredients are placed in layers in an enameled or ceramic bowl and left to warm for 2 hours.

As soon as the juice appears, transfer the mixture to a pan with a thick bottom and put on fire. After boiling, the mass is kept for 5 minutes with constant stirring, removing the foam as it forms. Then the mass is set aside until it cools completely. During this time, cans are prepared and sterilized. The cooled jam is again brought to a boil and quickly laid out on the containers.

With bone

In plums, the bone does not bite and does not affect the taste of the finished product. When cooking, you can go in two ways: leave the bones or pull them out by rubbing the cooked mass through a sieve or colander. When cooking, together with the bone, it is not necessary to select the variety very meticulously; you can cook what is.

Classic recipe

The easiest way to try your hand at the classics, where no special culinary talents are required. The cooking is extremely simple.Fruits and sugar are taken in equal proportions. For 1 kg drain, you need to add 100 ml. water. In order not to wait until the juice appears, it is easier to boil sugar with water, pour half the fruit with this syrup and put it to simmer on very slow heating for about 40-50 minutes. Be sure to regularly stir the mass so as not to burn. It is more convenient to do this with a wooden spatula. She does not crush the berries and mixes the contents of the pan well. The foam is constantly removed to make the jam monophonic.

It is worth considering: the mass quickly thickens as it cools, so it is laid out in banks immediately after cooking.

Seedless

If the goal is to cook an aesthetically beautiful jam from even halves or quarters, you will have to walk around the market in search of varieties in which the fruit opens accurately, without breaks and the bone is well separated from the pulp. So, it is worth paying attention to such varieties:

• Greengage.
• Volga beauty.
• Zarechnaya early.
• Hungarian Moscow.
• Ochakovskaya yellow.

To keep the pieces in shape and not boil, apply recipes with preliminary pouring boiling syrup.

With walnuts

There are several secrets to this jam:

• use any nuts, not only walnuts;
• plum choose a slightly immature or hard variety;
• pre-soak nuts for 30 minutes;
• too large chopped with a knife into small pieces;
• exactly withstand the cooking time, otherwise it will turn out fruit and nut paste.

First plums are boiled, 10 minutes after boiling pour sugar at the rate of 1: 1 with the number of fruits. Cooking time is 30 minutes. Then the nuts are removed from the water and placed in a colander so that the glass is excess liquid. After adding them to the boiling mass, the fire is turned off exactly 15 minutes later. The finished treat is immediately placed on storage containers and hermetically sealed.

It is worth considering: a dainty of quarter plums with walnuts, also divided into 4 parts, looks very nice.

With cocoa

This ingredient gives the dessert a light chocolate flavor. The product is quite capricious and for safety, the finished mass is placed only in dry, sterilized jars in the oven. The preparation is according to the classic recipe, it is better to choose late varieties with a well detachable bone. For 1 kg of fruit, take 500 g of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon with a hill of cocoa.

Plums are covered with half sugar and allowed to infuse until juice appears, then boiled, add the remaining sugar, cocoa and, if desired, 1 packet of vanillin. The mass is cooked for 40 minutes with constant stirring, laid out in jars in hot form.

From yellow plum

For most people, plum is associated with blue or almost black. Yellow species are bred by selection. They are not so acidic, larger and are great for preparing winter supplies. The jam is a stunning transparent amber color and with a delicate, slightly sour taste. The level of sweets is adjusted to taste by adding or decreasing the percentage of sugar.

It is prepared according to the classic recipe with a single boil or with pouring syrup, if you want to keep the plum wedges unboiled.

With apples

Later varieties go well with autumn apples. Choose varieties with sweet, juicy pulp. The easiest way is to combine 700 g of apple slices, 600 g of plums, halved with a removed bone, and 1 kg of sugar. All ingredients are poured into a saucepan and left for 1-2 hours. When juice appears, it is rearranged on the stove. The mass is boiled for 40 minutes, regularly removing the foam. Then the finished product is Packed in small jars. If you plan to store them in a cool place, then the treat is closed with tight plastic lids.

A very interesting option is obtained from the early plums with apples-ranetki. Plum mass is boiled in mashed potatoes, and small whole apples gleam in it. To obtain juice, they are pricked with needles from 2-3 sides before boiling, and the stalks are left. Children especially enjoy such a treat when, pulling a twig, they pull an apple out of the sweet mass.

With pears

The recipe implies a classic cooking method. Pears are divided into 4-8 slices, the middle with seeds is removed. Plums are divided into halves, removing the stone. Proportions:

• fruits - 500 g each;
• water - 200 ml;
• sugar - 1 kg.

Cooking time is 35–40 minutes.

With lemon

A very interesting combination of 2 tastes when a citrus shade is applied to the plum aroma. For cooking, you need 1.5 kg of plums, the same amount of sugar, 100 ml of water and juice from half a large lemon with a thick skin. Small oblong fruits look original in such jam. The stone is removed from them with the back of the pencil or a sushi stick, pushing it inward. So the fruit in appearance remains intact, flaunting through the thin glass of the jar.

Plums are poured with boiling syrup and boiled for 30 minutes with continuous stirring. Lemon juice is added to the boiling mass, the mixture is boiled for another 10 minutes. It turns out about 2 liters of jam and another outlet for tasting.

Cinnamon

Jam is prepared in the classic version in compliance with the proportions 1: 1, at the end of cooking, cinnamon is added to the boiling mixture. The secret to using high quality spices. For 2 kg of fruit, you will need only 1 stick of cinnamon or ground spice in an amount of 3-5 g. It gives the delicacy a delicate piquant taste. In jam, it goes well with lemon or orange juice.

With orange

Plum and sugar are taken in equal proportions, 1 large orange is added to them. The zest is cleaned from it, and the partitions that give bitterness in the finished product are removed from the lobules.

With slow heating, even plum slices will remain in the syrup, with a boiling boil you get jam. Slices of orange are cut into 3-4 parts. First, plums are boiled, then orange is added and boiled for 30 minutes. Ready jam packaged and cleaned for storage.

With pumpkin

Soups, main dishes, pie fillings and desserts are prepared from pumpkin. Complete with plum, an unusual and very attractive taste is obtained. For cooking, they are cleaned not only from the bone, but also from the skin. Pumpkin is rubbed on a coarse grater. Ingredients are taken in equal proportions - 600 g each, the amount of granulated sugar is increased by 1 \ 4, if too acidic fruits of the plum tree are caught.

Cooking time varies depending on the pumpkin variety. The main sign of dainty readiness is the complete softening of pumpkin chips. 5 minutes before cooking, add 0.5 teaspoons of cinnamon to the mass or lower 1 cinnamon stick.

Thick jam

For those who love a sweet roll of jam in the morning, one of the simple recipes is useful. To make the jam thick, it is boiled in accordance with traditional proportions, but the boiling time is increased. The plum gelled well, so the mass thickens as it cools. Therefore, it is poured immediately after readiness and into small jars in volume so that it is more convenient to take out with a spoon.

With cognac

This recipe is impossible to spoil. It is based on ordinary jam from any sort of plums in a ratio of ingredients 1: 1. The secret supplement is cognac 5 minutes before readiness. It is clear that cognac itself is much better than jam, but still it is worth sticking to the recipe. To reveal the taste, the mixture is boiled in three approaches for 10 minutes with complete cooling between them. Cognac is added with the last approach. By the way, it will turn out very tasty if, together with 1 tbsp. spoon a noble drink add a bar of quality chocolate in small pieces.In this case, the dessert is considered ready when the chocolate has completely dissolved. The delicacy is immediately removed from the stove and poured into small figured jars. Hermetically sealed to maintain a unique flavor.

For diabetics

The restriction on the use of sugar is not a reason for refusing all goodies. Jam is quite successfully cooked on sweeteners. They become:

• xylitol;
• sorbitol;
• stevia;
• maple syrup.

A very interesting option is obtained when cooking plums in grape juice, but to obtain permission for such a dessert you will have to go to the doctor in charge.

It is worth remembering: sweeteners do not thicken, so the jam will turn out liquid. It can be boiled to a jam state or add the Sladys thickener, which is allowed for diabetics.

If you do not want to take risks, then you should prepare plums without sugar in your own juice and in the winter diversify the diet with a pleasant sourness.

How to store the finished product

Shelf life of jam - at least a year. With a longer storage, it will not deteriorate, but will lose all its useful properties. Well boiled, it will stand perfectly in the corridor or in the wall cupboard in the corner of the kitchen. Five minutes is best stored in the refrigerator or cellar.

Interesting Plum Facts

1. Plum blossoms symbolize the rebirth of life.
2. The life span of a tree reaches 30 years, but fruiting ends in 15.
3. On the Balkan Peninsula, it is believed that those who planted a plum tree are forgiven of all sins.
4. Among the variety of varieties, the most popular is homemade plum. It accounts for 90% of the trees.
5. Fruits and leaves are used in folk medicine, because they have a laxative, antipyretic and disinfecting effect.

Plum jam is very popular and has many flavors. Any housewife based on the classic version can create their own corporate recipe.

Photo of plum jam