Plum Jam Recipe

plum jam

Plum Jam is really easy to make as plums have a lot of pectin naturally so setting is seldom a problem.

Ingredients for Plum Jam:

  • 4 lbs (1.8 kg) plums
  • 1 pint (575 ml) water
  • 4 lbs (1.8 kg) sugar

Method for Plum Jam:

  1. Wash and wipe the plums. Cut in halves.
  2. Put into a pan with the water and simmer gently until the fruit is soft.
  3. Test for pectin.
  4. Add the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
  5. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until the jam sets when tested, removing the stones as they rise to the top.
  6. Remove the scum.
  7. Pot and seal while still hot.

Makes around 6 lbs (2.7 kg) of jam.

General Information on Jam Making

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Posted in Val's Preserves, Jams, Fruit, Vegetarian Recipes, All Recipes, Plums
141 comments on “Plum Jam Recipe
  1. eileen says:

    do you stir the jam as it is boiling please

  2. eileen says:

    Well I have made the jam following this recipe and it seems to be ok, hubby has just tried the tester and he said it was very nice.

  3. Val says:

    You need to stir occasionally as you bring to a rolling boil to prevent it sticking to the base of the pan.

  4. ningpo says:

    Our plums have some insect trails, so far we’ve always washed, cut them in half (for inspection), quartered the pieces and then continued with cooking . Is this really necessary? How do you keep the bugs away? thanks, great site and good information.

  5. christine says:

    Just made this jam and it turned out the best ever, did take the tip to boil them longer to get the stones out if you have smaller plums. Got another 15lbs from my brother-in-law yesterday and am off again making more.

    Must say this is a great site fab tips always good to read how other people leave tips as well

    Christine x x

  6. Sheila Wright says:

    Thanks for the lovely recipe, I have made loads today, we have been here in france for 10 years and this is the first year our plum tree cropped, got 4 kilos of plums, all turned into jam.
    Love your site by the way. 🙂

  7. katie says:

    Thank you for the recipe which worked a treat first time however on my second attempt I have not managed to get setting point even though I have added lemon juice. I have checked the jars today and it is quite runny is there anything i can do to rectify this.
    I have been and purchased a bottle of pectin but no real information on the bottle. Can I reheat the jam or do I need to discard it?

  8. vicky says:

    what a fab site – so rare that you can ask questions and they are properly answered – one to bookmark for sure! thanks

  9. Celine says:

    I tried this recipe yesterday and it was a success. As someone mentioned previously, I crushed a few cloves and added some cinammon powder to give the jam a little twist. It takes quite a bit of simmering, about 50 minutes, but it’s well worth the wait. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.

  10. susan says:

    hi. Thank you so much for this lovely easy recipe. I was a little sceptical at first, worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the stones out, but I got 90%. The jam tastes really really good. All in all in took me about an hour and a half (simmering and boiling) but I have tonnes more plums so have frozen pre weighed bag fulls, and kept some aside to make some plum & banana bread, and crumble .

    One question, in the comments it says that 1.8Kg is the weight without stones – but I’m confused as I thought you leave the stones in till you cook. So what is the weight with stones ? About double?

  11. pete says:

    Would sugar marked jam sugar jam work. Or ordinary granulated?

  12. Val says:

    Ordinary granulated will be fine. There is no reason to pay extra for jam sugar (which has pectin in it) as plums are generally high in pectin.

  13. Charlie says:

    Hi, I am going to make some plum jam from your recipe, the only thing that concerns me is the amount of water to use. After looking at various other recipes non seem to use as much water ! HELP .

  14. norjam says:

    Made my first batch of plum jam this weekend, and it is truly gorgeous. This is the second recipe I have used from your website and they are proving to be better than a lot of other recipe websites. Brilliant, I’m hooked!

  15. norjam says:

    @Charlie: I was also concerned about using the water, but it works.

  16. nicky says:

    Hi found this site – followed the recipe, the jam is great. I’ve made 3 batches of it now, so easy. Thank you for the recipe .

  17. Jenni says:

    Hi, I made some of this wonderful jam two nights ago in a haste to use a huge bag of plums given to me by a neighbour. Then I realised I didn’t have any small jars! So used large kilner jars. Anyway, it’s come out so well I want to decant the jam into smaller, sterilised jars to give as gifts, but will this be OK? Is there a sterile way of doing it? Thanks!

  18. SeaBee says:

    @Andrea Daley: Probably cherry plums (originally from Eastern Europe), used by local authorities as a decorative species. Pips and skin – the pips should float to the surface where they can be skimmed off, I’d leave the skin in.

  19. SeaBee says:

    @Claire: If you are using Kilner jars or second-hand jam jars the inbuilt rubber seal should mean that you don’t need the disks.

  20. kirsty says:

    I have made some plum jam but waited for the 105 setting point and now its too set. Can I rescue it?

  21. Caroline says:

    Hi there.

    I planted a plum tree in my back garden three years ago, it’s a miniature, the first year it only gave two single plums, last year there were five, this year THERE ARE HUNDREDS 🙂 So, this was the first recipe I found for plum jam and then I went on a mission, done everything but the jam has not set. Anyway, I’ve added cinnamon to the recipe and it tastes real good, shame that it didn’t set.
    Oh by the way, anyone who is thinking of trying this out MAKE SURE YOU USE A VERY BIG SAUCEPAN I’m still scraping the bits off the hob..opps

  22. Jim says:

    hi, just made my jam from the first crop of plums in my garden. It gave 2 3/4 Lbs to which I added the same weight in sugar with 15oz of water. Worked well, set well, but very sweet. Did I add to much sugar?

  23. Mary says:

    Your plum jam recipe turned out great. I added a few things, some cooking apple, cinnamon and star anise. When testing for taste I found it quite sweet and addded juice of half a lemon. It set beautifully and everyone said the taste was wonderful. I have the second batch on at the moment as people pleaded with me to give them a pot. I used it on the top of coconut buns and it was yummy.

  24. Mary says:

    @Caroline: Caroline did you give it a brisk and very hot boil. Put two saucers in fridge and test until it gets crinkley on the saucer. Mine set perfectly, I’m not sure how much pectin is in the fruit, I didn’t use overipe plums.

  25. Ally says:

    I currently have my fruit and water simmering. Stupidly at midnight but I’m making jams and marmalade as Christmas gifts, being quite frugal!
    This site is fantasic. Fingers crossed this batch sets and is all finished by 3am!!

  26. Ally says:

    Oh my word, I have just finished and potted 7 1lb jars from this recipe. It is super sticky and tastes divine! Off to buy some more plums tomorrow so I have my own stocks for the year. Sod the xmas presents! Only a tiny thing I’d do differently, destone the plums first as I had to sieve and sure I missed some!

  27. Hayley says:

    I have just made my first batch 🙂 What consume by date can you recommend? A few weeks, a month? 2 months?

  28. Val says:

    It’ll be fine for 12 months (or more) as long as the jars are sterilized and sealed correctly and it is kept in a cool, dark place. If you are going to take more than a couple of weeks to eat an opened jar, store in a refrigerator.

  29. Catherine says:

    Hi
    I use the recipe quantities above with great success. I always make plum jam without stoning the plums first because we have Japanese rather than free stone European plums and the stones are hard to remove without wasting plum. I bring the plums to a boil in the small amount of water, then when they are soft mash them with a potato masher to break up the fruit and use a Chinese-cooking type skimmer ladle to take the stones out before I add the sugar. I count the plums before I put them in the pot and write the number down, then I don’t forget how many stones I need to skim out.

  30. june says:

    Hi all

    Just made runny plum jam – going to follow a few comments and try to thicken it up.
    NO NOT ME?? OTHERWISE I will just call it PLUM TOPPING.
    Should stay with what I am better at either cleaning or mowing lawns
    Happy New Year to all.

  31. Julia says:

    I am about to make my first Jam ever and brought a heap of plums, but because I’ve left them for a week, they are going on the soft side but still with a little firmness if you know what I mean. Would these still be ok to use?

  32. Viv says:

    I agree with Peter and I also added 1/2 tspn cloves to take away the sweetness. I made plum jam once before, years ago and it was delicious. I wish I could remember the recipe. This turned out more like a sauce and I wasn’t 100% happy with it.

  33. Karen says:

    Is the weight given for the plums before or after I have removed the stone please?

  34. Val says:

    After the stones have been removed.

  35. Dawn says:

    Just making this again from plums frozen after picking – smells great and can’t wait for tomorrow’s breakfast when they will sit atop a lovely toasted croissant

    YUM

    Brilliant site

  36. Pauline says:

    @Claire:

    Packets of the wax discs, cellophane tops, elastic bands and labels are available on line, e.g. you should be able to get them on Amazon at very low cost.

  37. Senga says:

    @Andrea Daley:
    Sounds like you have got Damsons rather than plums – equally delicious. If like me you cant be bothered scooping the stones out and checking to see if you’ve missed any, cut the fruit in half, remove the stones, put them in some muslin and put them into the pot that way you get the flavour and just need to pull the muslin bag out at the end. Either way enjoy your jam.

  38. Jeanne says:

    @Claire: I made plum jam recently but didn’t have wax discs handy so made them by cutting out disc shapes (by drawing round the jam jar) from baking parchment paper, it works and the jam is delicious.

  39. Jeanne says:

    @Paul Digpal: Thanks for the tip about the pectin – I am trying to make damson jam but it is runny so will try grapefruit in it as that is what I have to hand. I made plum jam recently and put half a lemon in it with reduced amount of sugar – it was yummy and set perfectly.

  40. Clara says:

    Thank you. I love thus recipie!
    As I had such a huge quantity of plums this year, I pitted and froze a freezers worth!! I have defrosted them as mentioned above, and the quantity of liquid/juice is huge! Should I discard it all?
    Many thanks

  41. Val says:

    Use some of it to replace the water.

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