A plum of a jam session…
I wish I could have spent more time with my Nana. I remember the cold linoleum of her kitchen underneath my tiny feet, the hours of fun on the swiveling chair attached to the phone stand and I can even remember the individual magnets she had on her fridge. 
But while I can remember standing beside her stockinged legs while she cooked roast beef and yorkshire pudding I wasn’t old enough to have picked up any of those skills that were second nature to her–skills that I fear are being lost as each following generation relies more on Dr. Oetker and Sara Lee than Julia Child and Irma Rombauer.
It makes me sad that those basic skills may become obsolete so I vowed that this is the year I will master some basics; make a pie crust from scratch without googling the recipe, perfect 5 new ‘signature’ dishes that I can whip up on a whim and last but not least I will learn the fine art of preserving and canning.
So here we are. September in the Kootenays, a time of abundance to the point where you can’t visit a friends home without them forcing you to take a bag or two of fruit home with you. Such is also the case at my own place. The plum tree at the end of our property is overladen with ripe, juicy orbs of sweet golden sunshine and so it is time to make a dent in my bucket list and attempt to make jam.
I prefer to limit the amount of refined sugars in my life so I decide to make a low-sugar recipe using Pomona’s Universal Pectin (a low methoxyl citrus pectin). I kept it simple by using honey as my sweetener and following the recipe included with the pectin. Luckily I only did a small batch because while okay, the jam wasn’t anything to write home about. I made two more batches playing with the amount of honey and adding some crystallized and fresh ginger for some oomph.
The end result was not entirely sugar free but a lovely low sugar jam that nicely balanced the tartness of the plums with the subtle sweetness of the honey and just a touch of zesty ginger to liven things up.
Heather’s Golden Balls of Sunshine Jam-yield 4-5 cups
4C mashed golden plums
1/4C honey
2 T sugar
1/4C crystallized ginger, finely chopped
2 T fresh ginger, finely minced
2tsp pectin powder
2tsp calcium water *part of the Pomona’s Pectin package
5-250ml mason jars
1. Wash and rinse jars; let stand in hot water. Bring lids and rings to a boil; turn down heat; let stand in hot water.
2. Wash, remove hull, stems , pits and skin from plums. Mash fruit. Measure into pan.
3. Add calcium water and both gingers to the mashed fruit; stir well.
4. Measure sugar and honey into separate bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sugars.
5. Bring fruit to a boil. Add pectin-sugar-honey; stir vigorously 1-2 mins while cooking to dissolve pectin. Return to boil and remove from heat.
6. Fill jars to 1/4″ of top. Wipe rims clean. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 mins. Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals–lids should be sucked down.
Can’t wait to try it on some fresh scones, hot from the oven…which of course means I’ll have to add scones to my list of recipes to master. It’s times like these I really wish my Nana was still around.
