Easy Plum Jam (No Pectin)

Open plum jam jar with spoon with jam resting over the top of it.

5 from 1 vote

Preserve the season with my quick, cheap and easy plum jam recipe. Perfect for jam making beginners, it's one of the easiest jams to make, 3 ingredients and no added pectin!

Course Jams, Preserves

Cuisine International

Keyword plum jam

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 15

Servings 350ml jars

Calories 790kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Preserving Pan
Wooden Spoon*
4 350ml (12 oz) jars with lids
small plates/saucers

Ingredients

1 kg plums any variety, see notes
700 g caster sugar see notes
2 tablespoon lemon juice see notes

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Place two small plates or saucers in the freezer. You will need them for "wrinkle (cold plate) test" (checking whether your jam has reached setting point).
Sterilise the jars. For details see - Sterilising Jars paragraph above.
Wash, halve and de-stone the plums.
Cut each half into small chunks and put them into large pan/saucepan or preserving pan.
1 kg plums
Place the pan on a low heat and let the plums release their natural juices and simmer gently until softened (15-20 minutes) stirring frequently to prevent them from catching.
***Quick Tip*** Plums release enough natural juices so there is no need to add any water to get them going.
1 kg plums
Next, add sugar and lemon juice and give it all a good stir. If adding any spices/flavourings now is the time to do that too.
Keep the pan on low heat stirring the mixture until all the sugar dissolves (approximately 5 minutes).
700 g caster sugar, 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Increase the heat to medium and bring mixture to rolling boil. Continue boiling for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes of continuous boiling, take the pan off the heat and test if your jam has reached its setting point by placing a small amount of mixture on the plate/saucer straight out of the freezer.
Put that plate in the fridge for 1-2 minutes, take it out and push the jam gently with your finger. If it wrinkles and stays in place it’s ready, if it doesn’t, put your mixture back onto boil and check again after 2-3 minutes repeating the process until you get the set.
If you own jam thermometer or one of the digital ones, your jam will have reached setting point at 105°C/221°F. Personally, I like using my digital thermometer together with cold plate test, just to make sure.
***Quick Tip*** I got the set after initial 5 minutes of rolling boil + extra 2 minutes.
Once your jam is ready, now is the time to remove any frothy scum that might have formed on top and to remove any flavourings.
***Quick Tip*** Removing the froth is not necessary. It will give you clearer jam but if you are not bothered you can simply skip this step.
Allow your jam to rest for couple of minutes and then pour it into prepared, sterilised jars almost all the way to the top, put on and tighten the lids and leave to cool.
You will hear the clicking noise as jam cools down and jars seal and there will be no bubble in the lid as you press down on it. It may take some time for it to happen from the moment you put the lids on so don't worry if it doesn't happen straight away.
Let the jars cool completely at which point you can apply your labels and store the jars away in a cool and dark place.

Notes

Nutritional information is per jar based on 4 x 350ml (12oz jars), is approximate and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
Any type of plums will work here. However, colour and level of sweetness of your jam will depend on variety of plums used. The weight of plums is before de-stoning. After removing stones I was left with 870g (30.6oz) of plums.
I used golden caster sugar but regular caster or simple granulated sugar will be good too.If you have preserving sugar you can absolutely use it too but DO NOT use jam sugar as it contains added pectin which is not needed here. It would make your jam really stiff and jelly like.
If using different amount of fruit make sure to adjust the amount of lemon juice accordingly.

TIPS:

Use wide and large enough pan to make jam. This will help with reaching jam setting point as there will be enough surface area for extra liquid to evaporate and enough height to reach that rolling boil without mixture boiling over.

If reusing metal lids for your jars make sure they have no signs of rust.

Cutting de-stoned plums into small pieces will help them break up and release their juices.

Sugar should only be added once plums have had a chance to soften. If added too early it will make skins go hard.

Make sure your sugar is fully dissolved. This will prevent it from crystallising later as your jam cools down.

You can adjust the amount of sugar depending on the sweetness of your plums and according with your taste. However, don't go below 1:¾ ratio (1 kilo plums, de-stoned weight, to 750g of sugar) as sugar is not just for sweetness here. It's also a preservative that will keep jam from spoiling.

My plums were really tart and weighed 870g after de-stoning. I used 700g sugar to achieve that sweet yet not overly so flavour I like so slightly more than minimum of 650g for that weight of plums.

If the plums you're using are very sweet you can use minimum amount of sugar advised which is ¾ weight of de-stoned plums.

Take the pan off the heat when checking for set so that you don't overcook the jam.

Plum jam will take time to fully set in jars and it is completely normal for it to be runny, almost liquid like as you're pouring it into jars so don't panic. However, it is a soft set jam so bear that in mind.

Nutrition