The first homemade jam I ever tasted was made with homegrown plums. I was just four or five years old and the trees in our backyard were having a bumper year. My mom picked enough to fill her yellow enamel colander, gave them a good rinse under the tap, and turned them in sweet, slightly drippy preserves. We ate those plums over pancakes and with oatmeal every chance we got.
Though I will often tell people that blueberries are my foundational fruit (and they were the star in my very first solo batch of jam), there is something about the flavor of plum jam that makes my brain go, “ah yes, THIS is what homemade jam should taste like.”
I recently made my first batch of plum jam for this season (I was asked by Anolon gourmet cookware to develop this particular recipe), from the same kind of sturdy black plums that used to grow in our southern California yard. I added a little ground cardamom for extra depth and I cooked the whole thing in the 7.5 quart wide stock pot from the Anolon Advanced line. Though I don’t normally gravitate towards non-stick cookware for jam making, the width and low walls of the pan made it irresistible.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post (hopefully that was clear before you got to this disclosure statement). Anolon has compensated me for the creation of the plum jam recipe. They sent me the stockpot in which I made the jam (I did really like it, though), and they’re providing the cookware set for the giveaway. The thoughts and words are still all entire mine.
Plum Cardamom Jam
Ingredients
- 5 pounds plums
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash plums well and cut them in half to remove pits. Slice the plums into thin half moons and heap them into a low, wide pan.
- Add the sugar and stir to combine. Cover the pan and let the plums macerate for at least an hour.
- When the plums are quite juicy and most of the sugar has dissolved, remove the cover from the pan and place it on the stove.
- Add the cardamom and lemon juice and bring the fruit to a boil.
- Cook the fruit at a controlled boil, stirring regularly, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the plums soften and the syrup thickens. You’ll know when the jam is done because it will become more resistant to stirring, and when you pull the spoon out of the pan, the droplets will be thick and slow moving.
- While the plums cook, prepare a boiling water bath canner and 8 half pint jars.
- When the jam is done, remove the pan from the heat. Funnel it into the prepared jars.
- Wipe the rims, apply the heated lids and clean rings, and process the closed jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes (do not start your timer until the pot returns to a full, rolling boil).
- Once the time is up, remove the jars from the canner and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. The lids should seal promptly and will often make a pinging or popping sound as the vacuum forms. When the jars are sealed, the center of the lids will be concave and when pressed, the lid will not move or wiggle.
My favorite pan was my cast-iron skillet, but unfortunately I had to give it away a few months ago when I moved 🙁
I love my enameled cast iron Dutch oven (Lodge brand) and use it often.
I was so excited when I got my grandmother’s Saladmaster manual food processor. I grew up with one and they are awesome.
I use my dutch oven for almost everything, except canning.
Right now my favorite is my cast iron Dutch oven, because we are camping!!
My favorite piece of cookware is my cassis colored 5qt oval French oven by Le Creuset that I got from Sur la Table at a major discount. It was originally $275, but it was marked down to $119. It’s perfect for cooking just about any meal for just me or even four people if I have guests.
Your pictures make me want to put up some plums!
My fave is my mother’s iron skillet, well over fifty years old, and so slick nothing sticks to it.
I have a 5quart saute pan that gets used for most of my cooking, although my cast iron enameled pot is a very close second!
I love the Dutch oven my father in law gave me that his mom used during his childhood. It cooks everything for me on the stove top and makes the perfect artisan bread in the oven.
Heavy enameled cast iron roasting pan. Works great for making roasted veggies!
My favorite piece is a 9 3/4 inch cast iron skillet I got at a farmers market for $10. Cleaned it and re-seasoned it with bacon fat and now it’s the workhorse of my kitchen. Makes amazing fried eggs.
My use-for-everything old Presto pressure cooker which I got as a wedding present 43 years ago. It’s been a stock pot, popcorn popper, chili pot, soup/stew pot, canner, oh, and of course…a pressure cooker!
Cast iron skillet I inherited from my mom.
It is a huge pot my great grandmother used for gravy and chicken soup. I feel connected to my past every time I use it to make jam. The 4th burner pot is great too for preparing the brine.
My favorite is my cast iron fry pan. I’m not sure where it came from but now it is MINE!!!!!
Cast Iron for making biscuits
My favorite is my 14″ skillet (it fits lots of stuff at once, allowing for 1-pan meals). It’s a little homely and old but I look past the dents and appreciate it for its lovely capacity.
My best friend and college roomate’s mom gave us a bunch of her old cookware for our apartment. Included in it is this 1970’s yellow stainless steel pot. I love it for all my canning needs and then some. I think it will last forever.
I love my Dutch oven, although I haven’t really used it as such- it’s my favorite thing to prepare my canning goods in!
My favorite piece is an aluminum pasta pot that belonged to my great grandmother. It’s seen a lot of use over the years! I just have to try to remember to use potholders because those metal handles get hot!
I love my Le Creuset oval dutch oven. I use to only use it in the fall and winter, but this year I’ve been using it for jam and salsa and it is working great!
I think my very favorite is an 8″ cast iron skillet I got in a yard sale for $1 or $2. I love it for eggs!
Winning the cookware set would be great. I have a light blue Dutch Oven I love to use.
My favorite piece of cook ware is my 8 qt. stock pot!
I’m torn. I’m going to list two because I honestly can’t say which I’d carry out of the house in case of a fire (although both would probably survive a fire) and say that my 12 in ch cast iron skillet AND my big sauté pan are my favorites. I use both more than any other and would take both again if i had to live in a furnished apartment again.
That jam is gorgeous by the way.
I love using my Griswold cast iron skillet that I inherited from my grandpa and think of him every time it’s used. I could kick myself for turning down the dutch oven and the footed dutch oven I was offered with it. I was 20, what did I know? All I could think of was how heavy it would be when I moved.
My favorite cooking tool is GreenPan skillet: I use every day to make perfectly folded eggs or thin crapes or pretty much anything.. Thanks for the giveaway !!
I am a big believer in “form follows function”. My favorite pan is the one that does the job right! Sometimes there is nothing that can compare to my cast iron skillet. Other times, my stock pots are going simultaneously. The common thread? I never seem to have enough!
One random, small skillet that I don’t even know where it came from. Perfect for cooking up eggs.
My five-gallon stock pot, which also doubles as my canning pot on my induction stove. 🙂
One of those chotchkies someone gave me that lived in a drawer *for years* until one day I clamped it onto my jam pan (which I also seriously love). It’s that one little extra thing that really contributes to happy, cleaner jam making.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7HPADM/ref=asc_df_B00B7HPADM3267526?tag=thefind0033261-20&creative=395261&creativeASIN=B00B7HPADM&linkCode=asn
I use my DutchOven more the ANY OTHER pan in my arsenal!!
I love my enamel coated cast iron skillet!
We are a soup family, so my 6 qt and 8 qt stainless stock pots are put to great use, though I do like my 3 qt stainless saute pan.
I love my stock pot. Whether making stock or cioppino.
A low and wide stainless steel pan. Amazing for everything.
My favorite piece of cookware is a Revere Ware 3 qt. pot…my fondest memory is of my dad using it to make mashed potatoes.
I love my new Dutch oven!
Right now in these hot summer days my Vitamix is my favorite non-cook, “cookware”. Smoothies, cool soups, dips, dressings, salsa’s, slaws and salads– couldn’t live without it!
My favorite piece of cookware is my cast iron skillet, handed down from my mom! Makes the best homefries and fried chicken!!
I love my antique cast iron skillet!
I love my ceramic skillet but am lusting after some stainless or enameled cookware.
My favorite piece of cookware is an orange 2-qt knockoff Le Creuset pot with a crack in the lid. It’s not too big, nice and heavy, and since I found it at a thrift store, it can’t have cost more than $10.
I love my dutch oven! It is yellow and pretty, for one. But I just love cooking with it.
It has to be my stainless steel skillet! I use it every day! Thanks for a great giveaway!
I’d be lost without my stainless skillet.
I have been canning for the last 2 weeks and use all of my set, love them and how easy clean up is!
My favorite cookware is my cast iron dutch oven!!
I use my stainless steel skillet for everything!
i would love this dutch oven for my Husband he makes the best green chili
Cheryl