This is another canning initiated by an attendee. This time its canning Prune Plum Jam. The attendee tried some of this jam from her friend and she liked it and decided to try to make some herself. She bought the prune plums for about 99 cents a pound.

This Prune Plum Jam does not require any pectin at all. Plum is rich in pectin itself.

Ingredients

• 4 pounds of prune plum
• sugar to taste

Yields 4 x 500ml jar

Instructions

Prepare canner:

Any large pot can be a canner. Just ensure that the pot is tall enough to hold water at least 2.5cm/1 inch deeper than your tallest jar. Place a cooling rack on the bottom of the pot, to raise the jars off the surface (helps to avoid excessive agitation). You can make a canning rack by tying a few old jar rings together with twist ties or twine. Otherwise, line the bottom of the canner with towels.

Prepare jars:

Wash with hot, soapy water, rinsing well. Inspect jars, and discard any with nicks. chips, or scratches, as these flaws can cause breakage. Set the jars into your canner, fill with water, and bring to simmering. Do not boil. Keep warm until ready to fill.

Prepare lids:

Wash with hot, soapy water, rinsing well. Heat the seals in hot, not boiling water, for 5 minutes. Rings do not need to be heated. When using, remove, remove lids from hot water using a non-metallic device, rubber gloves, or a magnetic stick. Avoid using any tools which may scratch or nick the sealing compound or the inside liner of the lid.

Cut the prune plum into half to remove the stone.

Cut the prune plum into smaller pieces to speed up the cooking time. Cook the prune plums with half a cup of water until the plum softened.

When the prune plums are softened, add sugar to taste and cooked until sugar dissolved and slightly thickened.

Canning Process:

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) headspace. Remove air bubbles with a none metallic spatula and adjust headspace, if neccessary. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.