Plum Preserves with Honey and Cardamom

I was cleaning out the freezer this week to make room for half a local grassfed steer, and I came across the very large bag of plums I froze last fall.  Whoops…I had intended to use them well before this, but better late than never.

This year I’m experimenting with using less refined sugars, so I thought I’d try sweetening a plum jam with honey.  I wanted to incorporate cardamom, too, as I felt the flavor would complement the plums.  A quick internet search came up with “Honey Plum Preserve” on Foodbuzz.  I’ll share the recipe here, along with my own notes.

Plum Preserves with Wildflower Honey & Cardamom

Ingredients

5 cups of plums, chopped and pitted
2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp orange juice
1 packet powdered fruit pectin
1 cup wildflower honey
1/2 tsp cardamom powder (optional)
1/2 cup water

Directions

Cover the bottom of a saute pan with honey. Place over low heat to warm the honey. Then add the chopped plums, and let them cook for 8-10 minutes, tossing them over to evenly coat them with the honey.

Bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, stirring frequently. Add the lemon juice, orange juice and the cardamom powder and mix well. Now go ahead and add the water, and let it boil.

Keep removing the white foam that forms at the top of the jam while cooking. When the mixture appears soupy and slightly thick, increase the heat to bring the mixture to a full, rolling boil.

Once it becomes syrupy, the jelly is ready. As it cools down, it will transform into the sticky but thick jam texture that you are used to eating. Some people like it chunky, while others prefer it more even. If you fall in the second category, pass the fruit preserves through a sieve or colander, pressing hard to extract as much pulp as possible. Your jam is ready at this point, to eat right out of the pot!

Notes:   The original recipe didn’t say when to add the pectin, or what type of pectin to use.  Plums have some natural pectin, so if you have a plums that are less ripe you may not need commercial pectin.  My plums were very, very ripe, so I figured I would need some.  I did a gelling test to see if the mix of honey and chopped plums would set.  To do a gelling test, take a tablespoon of alcohol and drop in a tablespoon of the liquid you are testing.  Let it sit two minutes.  If a firm blob forms, it has enough pectin.  If not, you need to add pectin.  I did not get a blob, so I mixed in standard powdered pectin to the honey and plums, because that’s what I had on hand.  I also added a teaspoon of butter to the fruit to reduce foaming.

The ratio of sweetener to fruit is very low in this recipe, but the added lemon and orange juice makes it fairly acidic, which should help to preserve it.  I packed my boiling jam in very hot jars and processed them in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.  I ended up with about 4 1/2 cups of jam.  The partially filled jar went into the fridge.  The flavor is good, tart and spicy, almost a bit like a chutney.  My only question right now is how long will it keep?  I guess we’ll find out, if it doesn’t get eaten first.

This recipe has been added to the Nourishing Jams, Jellies and Preserves Blog Hop, Make Your Own Monday for 9/26/2011 at Nourishing Treasures and Real Food 101 at Ruth’s Real Food.