Plum Brandy Jam!

One of my new goals is accomplished: I successfully (I think) made a batch of plum brandy jam this afternoon. I learned how to do this at my last cooking class, and this was one of the recipes that I was most impressed with. I have to say I was still very intimidated by the idea of making jam, and all the discussions on how to avoid botulism growing in my jam certainly added to that nervousness! I am surprised now, though, at how fast and easy the process ended up being. I'm sure there are much more complicated recipes (this one didn't require a pressure cooker or anything other than a lot of dishes and food) but this seemed like a pretty good one to start with.

I modified this recipe a little bit, because I couldn't find the the particular type of pectin that the recipe I got called for at Cub, Target or EconoFoods. I also added a little bit more sugar to get closer to the recipe on the pectin, and a little bit of lemon juice to avoid my new paranoia of giving people botulism. I spread the remaining jam from the pan that didn't go into a jar on some toast, and it tasted pretty good (and I'm still not paralyzed), so my recipe adjustments seemed to have worked.

Plum Brandy Jam
This makes about 2 pints, so I only got 2 jars out of it. It also take a lot of pots, preferably really big tall ones. Next time, I would probably choose to use smaller jars (1/2 pint), but I couldn't find those anywhere that was open last night at 8:30! This would not only give me a few more jars, but would mean I could use smaller pots.

Ingredients

• 4 cups plums (this was about 1 pint)
• 3/4 cups brandy
• 3/4 pacakge sure-jell no sugar needed pectin (the original recipe recommended Pomona's universal pectin)
• 2 cups sugar (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (I added this because I was using sweet plums, while the original recipe called for sour plums)

Equipment

• 2 really tall pots (big enough that you can fill them with boiling water, put the jars in and have the water cover them by an inch or two)
• 2 normal sized pots (one to boil the lids, which can be pretty small, and another just big enough to fit all the ingredients)
• 2 pint-sized jars or the equivalent, with rings and new lids
• A jar lifter (not necessary but really, really helpful)
•  A magnetic thingy to pull the lids out of the water (again, not necessary but really helpful)
• A funnel (I didn't use one. I should have--there would be a lot less plum jam all over everything right now)
• A thick towel with some pot holders underneath it or a wooden cutting board
• A potato masher or just a big spoon to squash the fruit with
• Normal cooking tools (cutting board, knife, measuring utensils, bowls)

Process

1. In one of the big and one of the small pots, add water. Put the lids for the jars you'll be using in the small pot, and the jars themselves in the big pot. Bring the water to a boil. This will sanitize the jars--make sure they are boiling for at least 10 minutes. I learned that it's probably a lot easier if you put the jars in with the mouth facing down--otherwise, you have to worry about pouring the water out later when you really just want to worry about getting your jam in!

2. Fill the other big pot a little over half full with water and start to bring it to a boil. You will be putting the filled jars into this pot to help them seal, so be sure there's enough room to add a jar without overflowing the pot, but enough water to cover the jar. It might help to make some extra hot water in a teapot to add later if the jar isn't covered.
3. Make sure there is a wooden cutting board or a thick dish towel on top of some pot holder nearby. This is where you'll be setting the hot jars both to fill with jam and to cool.
4. Pit the plums and chop them coarsely. You don't need to peel them.
5. Put the plums in the remaining small pot and heat them up. If they aren't juicy enough, you may need to add some water to soften the plums. It took me about 10 minutes to soften them up so I could smash them with a spoon, until they were almost liquid.
   
6. Smash the plums with a potato masher or a spoon until the mix is very liquidy. Mine already looked a little bit jam-like here.
7. Bring the plums to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the brandy and lemon juice. (If you are using the Pomona's pectin, you can add the calcium water during this step, too.)
8. Mix the sugar and pectin together in a separate bowl. Add the mix to the plums and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes to dissolve the pectin. Return the mix to a boil and remove it from the heat. Don't cook this mixture for too long, or the pectin will break down and your jam will end up being pretty soup-like.
9. Take the first jar out of the water bath and make sure the water is out (jar lifter is very handy here). Also pull a lid out (this is where the magnetic thing is really useful!) and set both on your towel or cutting board. Carefully pour the jam into the jar. This is where a funnel would have come in really, really handy for me; as it was, I used a big spoon and poured it in a little bit at a time. It took a long time and I have a very messy dish towel, but most of the jam ended up in the jars! I filled my jars to about 1/4" below the metal ring line.
10. Place the lid back on the jar and tighten the ring with your fingers (not too tight--otherwise the expanding and contracting that happens with the heat can cause some problems).
11. Using the jar lifter again, place the filled jar into the second large pot with the boiling water. Make sure the water covers the jar by an inch or two. If your water isn't quite boiling yet, it's ok--just get it there as fast as possible and don't start timing until it has started boiling. Boil the jar for 11-12 minutes (this is at an elevation for the Twin Cities area in Minnesota--you may need to adjust this based on your own elevation). While this jar is boiling, you can go ahead and fill the next one.

12. Pull the first jar out of the water bath with the jar lifter and place it back on your cutting board/towel. You can put the second jar into the water bath and start timing it. Let the first jar cool for awhile--you should hear a little popping sound after a bit indicating that the seal worked. My first jar took probably 5 minutes to pop--the second one popped within a minute. The seal is based off of the time and heat of the water, which is why it's important not to start the timer until the water is at a slow boil. If it doesn't pop, you can also toss it back in the boiling water for another 11 minutes. However, if it's been long enough to let the jam cool, it's better to put it in a new, re-sterilized jar.
13. Take the metal ring off at least long enough to ensure there's no water underneath, so it won't rust. You can also test your seal here (carefully) by picking the jar up by its lid. If it sealed correctly, it should stay. If not, the lid will come off and the jar will fall...so be careful!
14. Enjoy your success!