All my jam recipes are shelf stable as written so water bathing is not necessary. If you wish to water bath then you would need to refer to your jar manufacturer’s instructions.

Should this be water bath canned after to preserve?

Thanks! That was a great tip!

No, I leave the skins on every fruit I use in jam.

Do you ever remove the peel? I was told I should

What a lovely foodie memory Jill. Is this how you do it too?

Thank you, that’s just what I’m aiming for “idiot proof”:-)

Our Mirabelle tree fruited 20 odd years ago sparsely, and never again until this year ! In fact the first time I saw the fruits I wasn’t even sure if they were edible but this year they are in abundance and look edible and are sweet.
This recipe is just perfect and looks idiot proof !

Hi Cassandra, I’m assuming this comment was meant for me and not Brenda. What your mother is making is jelly and not jam. I would say that she doesn’t need to pit the mirabelles before boiling (they fall apart during boiling) and the stones would be strained out by the muslin. My recipe is for jam so hence no straining involved. I have Blackberry & Apple Jelly, Rosehip & Apple Jelly and Gooseberry & Mint Jelly recipes on my blog.

Hello, my mom discovered a Mirabell tree in her garden and has been making jam already. I shared this recipe as a way to hopefully make the process easier for her, she pre-depitts her fruit, and says that part is a nightmare. I said perhaps she should follow your process, however she seems to think “If you look at her finished product, it is clear jewel like jelly. Like Cranberry jelly. And that is obtained by draining the fruit through muslin and leaving all the pulp and fibre and pips behind.” Did you do this step at all please? She is convinced you “have made it into more of a Jelly. It’s super clear! So I think didn’t even try to de-pip it. She hung a muslin cloth on the legs of an up turned chair, which she seived the juice through .”

Please help me. Your process seems clear to me, but my mom seems to think you have done additional steps?

In reply to Camilla.

It’s great for gifting the gin at Christmas time

I just Googled and they do fruit every year. I expect individual trees adjust to their climate. I know of a prolific elderberry tree that didn’t flower/fruit the year after I picked elderberries from it yet other smaller bushes all fruited the following year. Gin sounds good, I’m not a drinker so it would end up back in some jam:-)

Hi Jeannie, all my jams are made like this as this is how we make jam in the UK and much of Europe. We just fill the sterilised jars with hot jam, place a lid on and a vacuum forms as the jam cools which forms a seal. The jam will last for years but best for quality and colour in the first 12 months.

Hi
One of my favorite fruits to make jam with, however, I have to get to them before the squirrels eat them all. I have several trees of different types of wild plums.The red ones, and a different type of yellow these are all wild.
I noticed in your recipe. It doesn’t say after putting the fruit into the jars that you boil the jars for preserving, is this not necessary?

Thank you

Awesome Rosanne, so glad you love the jam:-)

Hello, I had 6kg of yellow plums so made this jam. It turned out perfect. Sweet but with still a tart aftertaste…probably the skin that added that. Love it.

Woohoo, excellent. Isn’t free produce the best! I don’t have any fig trees, used to live next door to a couple with one and at the time I didn’t like figs and wasn’t into making jam so never asked for any more after she gave me some LOL! Don’t think I’ve ever seen a Beechnut but perhaps I’ve been walking past them, seems to be the way! I am indeed on YouTube, if you’re on PC go to top right where it says FOLLOW ME ON or on phone scroll to bottom of the page and then it’s the last icon. I’m so very happy to hear that you like my recipes. I don’t have a book but who knows, maybe one day, my daughter keeps telling me do do a jam book.

In reply to Camilla.

Hey, Ive done it 😀 Mirabelle jam yahhhh another winner lovely lady it was very citrusy on day one (not complaining i love citrus), but seems to have mellowed. Its so refreshing and apart from the sugar and gas, its free lol. My head is buzzing with the amount im learning re foraging this year. Found beechnut trees in a wood just up the road from the mirabelle tree bonus huh, altho beechnuts are a lot of work! might try beechnut flour next year! ive had to bin so many figs this year 🙁 but, ive found a little shop in town that said he would be interested in doing a deal next year :O if only i get a pint of milk for a lb of figs ill be happy 🙂 how have your figs been this year? . Yes im on you tube all the time, have you got a channel on there? I also made your rhubarb cake last week. Camilla have you got a cook book? Thanks again really appreciate your recipes, never fail x Tracy

Thanks Tracy, so glad to hear that there are still Mirabelles or yellow cherry plums still out there, I kind of wondered if I’d missed the boat as my local trees seem to have finished fruiting now. You may be lucky to find another tree as I only spotted 1 to begin with and when I needed more I decided to look a little closer at the area and there was another Mirabelle (or yellow cherry plum) tree growing next door but one but set back further. Even if you aren’t on Facebook Google is very helpful as is YouTube but the trouble is you can’t show them a photo, I imagine there are apps too. I didn’t do Facebook until I became a blogger but it is quite valuable for learning about specialist things. I learned about Bullaces from one of these foraging groups and am aware of a walk that has them but think the season was over when I went looking and found sloes instead. Maybe I’ll be lucky this year. So very glad you like my jam recipes,do let me know how you get on with the Mirabelles and Sloes:-)

Excellent, so glad you like my Mirabelle jam:-)

This jam is lovely! Just harvested a mirabelle tree and it has all gone into the jam pot. Thank you for this recipe!

Aaw, thank you so much Joseph that’s so lovely to hear. Quite envious of all your plum trees! My parents have a Damson tree and had a Victoria plum tree when I was a kid but it died of old age but the fruit tasted amazing. I’ve got some supermarket Victoria plums and they’re quite bland sadly.

In reply to Helga Eyers.

I followed this recipe last year and it was absolutely super. I make lots of jams from my own grown fruit from my garden plenty of Mirabelles this year I have 4 different plums Jubilee, Mirabelle, Damson and Victoria 14 fruit trees so I’m kept pretty busy at this time.. I just love doing your recipes again your recipes never fail

Awesome Helga, so glad you enjoyed making the jam! Just wish I could find some more Mirabelles.

Hi Matilda, if you look at the photos you can see the skins showing on the buttered roll. Most of the pectin is just under the skin. None of my readers or myself have had any issue with the skins but if you do you could always use a stick blender after the first step to blend them in so they wouldn’t be noticeable. Regarding pitting, I went for the most time efficient route as pitting that many plums takes an awful long time and often some of the fruit gets stuck to the stone so you’re wasting fruit. Taking the stones out may have an effect on the setting time as I’ve not made it that way, just something to be aware of. At the end of the day there is no right and wrong, everything is personal preference:-) I have taken 2 hours to pit sloes before now and it’s character building:-)

Hi Camilla,
My son and I recently found some Mirabelle plums in our village so we wanted to give making your jam a go. I just have a couple of questions.

1 – do you need to remove the skins? If not, what happens to them?

2 – Why can’t we just chop the plums and remove the stones that way?

Thank you so much!

Hi Karen, yes jam gets firmer as it cools. I have no clue about processing I’m afraid as it’s not something we need to do in the UK. But if you got a crinkle then all should be fine:-)

Hello I’ve just made your jam recipe, it did the crinkle test fine but I wondered will it thicken up now that it’s in the jars. It tastes good so I figured that it could go on vanilla ice cream as a treat if it doesn’t, thicken or on oatmeal!
Oh I also processed it for 8min. So hears hoping. Thanks

Karen from Vancouver Island, BC. Canada

So glad you like the recipe Jooles, yes plum stones are a tease for sure!

Awesome Rosa, so glad you like it. I’m sure you’ll love my other jam recipes too:-)

Had three Kilo of mirabelle plumbs and increased the water and sugar accordingly . Easy to make but was very time consuming removing all the plum stones . Jam looks a gorgeous golden colour. Setting as I write and I am sure it will taste as good as it looks . Many thanks for the recipe ….

Excellent Rosey, glad you made use of your mirabelles and made my jam. I only ever used jam sugar once and didn’t like the stiffness it gave jam so have used lemon juice to aid the set ever since. So your jam may be stiffer than mine.

Hi Camilla,
There’s a huge mirabelle plumb tree & an elder tree in my works garden in Christchurch (Bournemouth, Dorset Coast). I’ve never been sure what the mirabelles were until recently so I took full advantage & used your recipe to make a big batch of jam. Very easy to follow for a first time jammer. I haven’t tasted it yet but im sure it’ll be delicious, I also used jam sugar (with added pectin) instead, not sure if it’ll make much difference. I only had 1.5kg of plumbs so reduced water & sugar to 1.5kg too & it made a LOT of jam still.
Thank you xx

Excellent Helen, glad I’m not the only Crazy Jam person. With regard to the amount of alcohol etc try looking at my Rhubarb & Gin Jam which you could use as a guide. https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/simple-rhubarb-gin-jam/

Hi Connie, you can use pectin to make jams but I have never used it as I haven’t found it necessary so can’t give you any advice on it’s use. Making the jam my way makes for a more intense flavour.

Thank you Janice, I really want to remake this jam but I think I’d have to do a shout out on a local Facebook group in order to get hold or more:-)

I love plum jam, but I’ve never found any Mirabelle Plums up here. I’ll look out for them because I really want to make this jam.

Hi, Jon, my jams will last for years in a cool dark place but best eaten in the first year. Once open keep in the fridge where it will last a few months.

Hi Charlene, I’ve just googled for some info and your plum calculation seems correct but I got 2 kg or sugar as = to 10 cups and 200 millilitres of water = 0.85 of a cup. I don’t know if you have fluid ounces, it’s just over 7 fl oz. I would really, really recommend that you buy a set of scales though as far more precise.

Are these correct?
2 Kg Mirabelle plums = 4.409lbs
2 Kg Granulated sugar – 8.4535 cups
200 ml Water – ?? not sure

I would love to make your recipe!

Thank you,
From San Jose, CA, USA

I usually wait until the next day to test my jams. I imagine after 2 hours the jam is still warm. If you do find that the jam is more like compote than jam then just tip it back into a pan (re-sterilise jars) and boil up until a better set is reached.

I’ve made the jam and tastes wonderful. One small worry is that it still seems quite runny after 2 hours. Is this normal?