Pure Plum Preserves - No Added Pectin Required

I love good plum preserves.  Plums are a perfect fruit for making jam because they are tart, tasty, and naturally packed with pectin--the gelling agent you have to ADD to most jams and jellies.  Plums belong to the "Prunus" genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and almonds.  They are all considered "drupes"--fruits that have a hard stone pit surrounding their seeds.

Our pretty-puss ponders the prodigious power of purple pectin-packed plum preserves

Let's talk about pectin for a minute.  Pectin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide from the cell walls of various plants (especially fruits) that acts as a gelling agent to give jellies and jams their yummy spreadable consistency.  Some fruits are naturally high in pectin (e.g. most citrus, tart cooking apples, crabapples, most Plums-except the Italian kind etc.) and others are low (e.g. apricots, blueberries, sweet cherries, sour cherries, grape juice, melons, pears etc.).  The low pectin fruits require the addition of pectin in order to make jams and jellies, but if you use high-pectin fruits you can gel them in their own pectin.  Pectin is more abundant in different parts of plants.  For instance in citrus it is primarily found in the white pithy part of the inner peel (the juicy center and the colorful external part of the peel have very little).  Fruits from the prunus genus such as apples and plums are also rich in pectin but there it is found primarily in the peels (which are also packed with most of the nutrients BTW).  Also pectin is more abundant in unripened fruit because as the fruit ripens pectin is broken down by enzymes.  It is not only useful as a gelling agent but consumption of pectin has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels. The mechanism appears to be an increase of viscosity in the intestinal tract which leads to a reduced absorption of cholesterol from bile or food.

I have a friend who offered us some plums from his tree.  These are the Damson variety (deep purple oblong fruits covered with a dusty white coating and known as "wax bloom".  I picked both ripe and almost-ripe fruits and used the whole fruit of both after removing the pits (the peels on the unripe fruit contain the most pectin).  These plum preserves are so simple.

Here's how to prepare Purple Pectin-Packed Plum Preserves:

• 3 lbs Plums (make many of them firm for a more powerful pectin punch)
• 2 lbs Sugar
• Juice from 1 Lemon or 1/4 tsp Citric Acid

Sanitize some jelly jars by steaming them for 15 minutes.  Slice the plums in quarters, remove the pits but leave the skins on.  Place them in a heavy pot (a thin stainless steel pot will increase the chances of scorching) over medium heat.  Stir frequently to avoid scorching.  As the fruit breaks down with the heat it will release its juices.  Once the fruit has softened (see the upper left picture in the collage above) use a stick blender or a food processor to chop it up to a coarse paste (it's OK to have small pieces of peel and chunks of fruit).  Stir in the sugar and lemon / acid and continue to cook on medium heat (want it to boil but not scorch) until it reaches the jam stage--about half an hour.  You can use the sheet or spoon test to see if it's ready — Dip a cool metal spoon into the boiling jelly mixture. Raise the spoon out of the steam, about 12 inches above the pan. Turn the spoon so the liquid runs off the side. The jelly is done when the syrup forms two drops that flow together and sheet or hang off the edge of the spoon.  Pour the hot jelly into the canning jars, put on lids and rings.  The little "button" in the center of the canning lids should pop down as the jam cools to room temperature indicating that it has sealed.  If a jar doesn't seal keep that one in the fridge and use it first.

BTW, you can make any amount using the 3/2 ratio of fruit to sugar.