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Making just one jar of jam - help please

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elljay
elljay Posts: 1,010 Forumite
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Hello all, I've been given a few plums and some damsons, I've put them in the freezer for now but would really like to jam them (well actually I'd like to gin the damsons but buying the gin wouldn't be very mse)

I've probably got enough for maybe a jar of each. It's ages since i made jam and it will be done in a saucepan as I haven't got a jam pan any more, no idea where that went.

Can anyone point me somewhere that can help with proportions/recipe please? I've found a few but they tell me to de-stone the fruit first, then weigh it. I'm sure it isn't necessary to do that, I remember stewing plums then just taking out the stones with a slotted spoon. Or maybe I need to weigh a single stone then calculate from that. Or maybe not! :D

Any help very gratefully received. Thanks

EJ
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  • CapricornLass
    CapricornLass Posts: 668 Forumite
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    Equal weight fruit to sugar?


    I know that jelly is 1 pt juice to 1lb sugar, and I think jam is 1 lb fruit to 1 lb sugar.
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  • maddiemay
    maddiemay Posts: 4,986 Forumite
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    CapricornLass wrote: »
    Equal weight fruit to sugar?


    I know that jelly is 1 pt juice to 1lb sugar, and I think jam is 1 lb fruit to 1 lb sugar.

    That's how I work it out too, but if I have frozen the fruit I usually allow about 10% more fruit than sugar to allow for the extra moisture.
    The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. (Abraham Lincoln)
  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,010 Forumite
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    Thanks very much, that makes sense - will give it a go this afternoon. I suppose I'll have to knock a bit off to cover the weight of the stones too as I'm not going to spend a beautiful day destoning plums.

    Thanks again. EJ
  • Artytarty
    Artytarty Posts: 2,642 Forumite
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    How did it go? Have to say I'd just have thrown them in together and made a couple of jars of mixed fruit jam, but then again, I'm pretty lazy!
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  • Siebrie
    Siebrie Posts: 2,902 Forumite
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    I remember eating jam with stones in, and it was fine. It was just jam that would not keep very long, so needed to be eaten within a year, if I remember correctly.
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  • maddiemay
    maddiemay Posts: 4,986 Forumite
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    The stones will rise to the top, I skim off as many as I can with a fork, but a few always escape. My mum never bothered, she used to tell us that those who ate the most jam got the most stones:rotfl:
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  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,010 Forumite
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    Yep it worked out absolutely fine thanks. I've now got one jar of plum jam - I'm still unsure about the damsons, because jam is so sweet I think it might spoil the lovely taste of them, so still toying with the gin idea. I'll have to see if there's any cheap gin around.

    I ended up using my normal style of cooking, starting with a recipe then messing with it. I wish it was possible to make jam with less sugar though, I think I'm probably so used to things being less sweet than in years past - didn't stop me scraping the pan (or rather the base of the pressure cooker which I used in the end.) Nom nom. The stones were easy to pick out with a slotted spoon, they just rise to the surface once it's been simmering for a few minutes.

    Thanks for the encouragement folks. EJ
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,514 Forumite
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    I always did 2 parts fruit to 1 part sugar.
  • PipneyJane
    PipneyJane Posts: 4,073 Forumite
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    elljay wrote: »
    Yep it worked out absolutely fine thanks. I've now got one jar of plum jam - I'm still unsure about the damsons, because jam is so sweet I think it might spoil the lovely taste of them, so still toying with the gin idea. I'll have to see if there's any cheap gin around.

    I ended up using my normal style of cooking, starting with a recipe then messing with it. I wish it was possible to make jam with less sugar though, I think I'm probably so used to things being less sweet than in years past - didn't stop me scraping the pan (or rather the base of the pressure cooker which I used in the end.) Nom nom. The stones were easy to pick out with a slotted spoon, they just rise to the surface once it's been simmering for a few minutes.

    Thanks for the encouragement folks. EJ

    EJ, MrT is selling 70cl bottles of cooking gin for £10 at the moment. It's the cheapest I've found.

    HTH.

    - Pip

    (I harvested a bag full of sloes on Saturday, which will be ginned this weekend. They're currently frozen sloe-marbles. I use the recipe from https://www.sloe.biz
    . Afterwards, I'll make sloe gin truffles following the recipe that's also on that site.)
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  • elljay
    elljay Posts: 1,010 Forumite
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    Oooh thank you. No Tesco nearby I'm afraid, however there's plenty of time so when I'm next near one I'l pop in. I'm sure Adi or Lidl will have some too at a reasonable price. I wonder what the difference between drinking gin and cooking gin is though? Never heard of that before!

    EJ
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