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?

Excellent, yes I learnt the hard way once burning my jam when I forgot to stir it, never burnt it again:-)

I just finished a second batch and kept stirring it! Looks good! =)

Thanks Laura, that’s great to hear. Yes you really need to be stirring all over the whole time to stop any sugar catching on the base of the pan. This is a joy of a jam:-)

Made this yesterday with plums from the two trees in my garden- it worked brilliantly and had a rather firm set which was good. I maybe didn’t stir it enough so there was some ‘caramelisation’ on the bottom of the pan- still delicious though! Am making another batch today after getting more jam making supplies!

Thanks for the recipe! I will be making this every year I think!

I don’t have a preserving pan but do have a very large stainless steel pan with thick bottom which measures 22 cm across and 18 cm high which I would say is the minimum size you need unless making something like my one punnet strawberry jam. You need the space for the rolling boil as it all rises up.

I’m a jam novice
Kevin

Thanks Pat, yes there are many ways to make plum jam, as Nigel Slater says, a recipe is just a starting place, so glad you found a method that suited you:-)

I’ve just tried your recipe for the Mirabelle Plum Jam for the very first time – wonderful flavour!
However prior to putting the plums into the pot I sliced them in half and removed the pits – but I also put the pits into the pot too. I’m sure that they add to the flavour and they are very easy to remove when the cooking is done as they seemed to be floating on top of the jam.

It was a lovely gesture Kavey:-)

Pleasure:-)

thank you!

Hi Yana, some fruits are naturally high in pectin and plums are in this category. With regard to the pitting, I found it useful to pit as some plums might have rotten bits in but if you want to agitate with ha whisk and fish out then you can. I wouldn’t advise using a sieve as it would quickly get clogged up with the skins and would take forever to push through, plus you’d ruin the beautiful texture of the jam. I would also google what the maximum number of kilos of fruit is ok to make into jam as you can affect the set if you try to make too much at once. Good luck!

I’ve never made jam without something to help it solidify? Is there something in these plums that makes them gel without any added pectin?

About the pitting process, given I have so many I actually liked the idea of cooking them and using a whisk to pull out the pits, could I also put them through a sieve to get the pits out after cooking or will that pull the skins out too?

Yes if the fruit looks a bid iffy, like my parent’s Damsons it’s good to remove the stones first and give them a thorough inspection at the same time. Glad you like it:-)

I hear you with the stone removal – never a favourite job of mine either! Glad you found and made this jam, one of my favourites:-)

Just made this, thanks for sharing!
I want to say that removing the pits is a meditative process and a labour of love, but I am just not that kind of person…
Added a little less sugar as I like it tangy, but otherwise kept it as is. Look forward to trying it!