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.
I would have to say my baking stoneware set that self season’s. I have had my stones since 1995 and they have traveled many miles with me as I have moved from state to state. My second is my family sized skillet “chicken fryer” you can put so much in this skillet it is the perfect size!
My enameled cast iron Le Creuset! Not only do I use it for everything under the sun, most importantly it is best for baking Sourdough Bread. Love it!
My Dutch oven. So versatile and a dream to clean.
I guess my all-time favorite is an 11 inch skillet I got from Aldi’s a few years ago. It has sloped sides, a non-stick coating that doesn’t come off, light green enamel on the outside that doesn’t scratch, and the most important part, it doesn’t warp on my flat-top stove, even on high heat! The only drawback is it didn’t come with a lid, so I had to find one to fit.
My earthware griddle pan, environmentally friendly and fantastic for pancakes. Would love to have some plum jam to put on top. Thanks
A Griswold cast iron skillet passed down from my grandmother.
My favorite piece of cookware is my 14″ heavy saute pan. None of this “cook in batches.”
My paella pan. From stovetop to oven, you can cook so many things in that big flat pan!
My 12″ All Clad Frying Pan.
I love my 2 burner pan! I love making pancakes on it
My favorite piece of cookware is my Grandmother’s huge cast iron skillet. It is about 4 inches deep and about 16 inches round. I LOVE it. I watched my grandmother cook anything from eggs, bacon, fried chicken or rabbit to spaghetti sauce. My mom inherited it and now I have it and I use it ALL the tme!
My 12″ covered saute pan rarely makes it back into the cabinet – use it for everything from bacon to jam!
I’ve tried blueberry jam but had to cook it too long to achieve the right thickness, berries turned into tiny little deflated soccer balls. Guess I needed a larger, shallower pan!
My go to pan-my lodge 10″ chicken fryer.
The large stainless steel pot I make my jams and jellies in. The bottom is rounded not sqared off, so it is very easy to stir and scoop out the product.
Hard to choose – probably my 12″ skillet, in which I cook almost everything
My favorite cook ware pot is the stock pot…… can’t live without it!
My favoritei is a huge cast iron Dutch oven that was used by a relative 100+years ago when he was a cook for cattle drives. It makes fabulous roast with potatoes,etc.
My favorite is my mom’s cast iron skillet. It’s large and I make alot of things including soups and stews in it.
My favorite piece of cookware? Hard to choose as love all my cookware…but if I have to it would be the Griswold cast iron my mother got at a yard sale about 45 years ago and gave to me. She said no kitchen is complete without one. I have since passed it on to my daughter. Guess it has become a family heirloom!
A cast iron skillet that was my grandmothers!!
I have a large stainless steel stockpot thats only 5″ tall. I use it all the time for my jams and jellies. It is called the Mother in Law pot because the lid has an a metal handle that gets very hot. Burn. Need I say more. Both the pot and the plums are beautiful!
I have a 3 qt stockpot with a small spot on the side that is great for making brines and pouring them
Straight into my jars. No need for a ladle!
My vintage cast iron skillet will always be close to my heart, but my new wide and low sauteuse pan is becoming my go to pan for preserving
My favorite pot? An Emeril 6qt pot my husband received for free in 2006.
Cast iron skillets…had them for years.
That would have to be my cast iron Dutch oven…so versatile!
Cast iron skillet-but now that I am getting older it is becoming too heavy to handle!
It’s the stock pot from a cheap set of Farberware — I love that thing — great for soups/chili/stews, canning small batches, applesauce … if I win, it will stay in the kitchen!
My favorite is my stick blender! It makes canning a breeze.
First; thank you for this wonderful giveaway opportunity.
My favorite piece of cookware; I would have to say my deep chicken fryer pan along with my cast iron skillet
My favorite pan ? That’s a toss-up between my big old, well-loved, and well-used cast iron skillets and my copper stock pot. I use them both and love the results from both.
My favorite pot is my dad’s old calphalon stock pot. It has been used for ages to make all of my family’s favorite recipes and my dad’s favorite soups. My father recently passed away so this pot has an extra special place in my foodie heart now.
I have a big old dutch oven that I use several times a week. I would really like to be able to put it in the oven, though, but it doesn’t have oven safe handles.
Hmmm. Would have to be my Staub dutch oven, which I now prefer over Le Cruset!
The calphalon wok my hubby bought at a garage sale for 50 cents!
My favorite piece of cookware is an old aluminum pot that was my Grandmother’s. We’ve always used it to cook small amounts of pasta in. It’s probably about 5 quarts in a stockpot style. My Mother said that Nanny had that pot since she was little girl in the 1930’s! Every time I pull that pot out I think of Nanny and that’s a good thing.
My favorite piece of cookware is an ancient stainless steel pot that is tall enough to water bath even quart jars in the summer, and to make huge pots of soup in the winter,
My 7.25qt Le Creuset dutch oven. It’s the perfect size for cooking or using it for a water bath.
My wok that my parents gave me many years ago, as a “welcome to adulthood” present!
I love Anolon! Well, I own just one that I bought at a church yard sale. I have had it for 20 years. Love it! It is a flat pan that I use to heat up homemade tortillas, make paninis, and grill ham and cheese sandwiches that I have cut into fun shapes for my son,
My Kilner jam pan. Such a pleasing wide shape, heats evenly and easily, lovely little handle. It’s easy to clip on a thermometer. Used for all my canning projects. I can’t get enough of it.
I have a stainless steel saucier that I love — it’s shallow; a spoon easily gets into the corners; and the color of the jam isn’t disguised in any way.
my le creuset dutch oven!!
My cast iron skillet is totally my fave!
A cast iron skillet that as a child I could not even lift because it was too heavy. And now it has been passed down from my grandmother to father then to me. I remember using it on our outdoor camping trips to make the most wonderful “camping pancakes” & awesome eggs and potatoes for morning breakfast!! Yum! Looking forward to handing it down to my children.
My cast iron will always be my favorite!
my heavy sauce pot that I lovingly refer to as my mashed potato pot. Its the perfect size for me and it seems to never make it back the cabinet after washing.
My favorite piece of cookware has got to be a hand-me-down steel pan that I received from a friend of my Mom’s. That lady was downsizing and eager to pass along so many lovely things. The pan is just the right size for so many things, the handle stays cool and the pot cover has a knob which doesn’t match any of our other covers, making it easy to find by touch. 🙂
Love my cast iron griddle. Takes two burners to use it, but makes a family’s worth of anything fast.
My enamel dutch oven, it’s the best!