It seems jamming plums is a popular thing to do with us Dabblers. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a heavily laden plum tree at the edge of a neighbor’s yard. Since they weren’t picking the plums, i picked a pretty peck for myself! Over 15 pounds! I dried the first batch, but as we’re out of jam i felt the need to get the canning supplies out and make some jam!
I am not a fastidious person. This laziness makes canning difficult for me. Once i get going, i’m fine – but i’m frequently daunted by all the cleaning and preparing that is necessary for safe canned goods and often end up just freezing my work instead of processing it – which is really lame when you have a small freezer but plenty of cupboard space. I wasn’t a chicken this time, and put up 10 half pints of plum/blackberry (last year’s frozen berries) jam and half a dozen jars of spicy plum sauce which i think will accompany the rabbits i have in the freezer quite nicely.
I got the plum sauce recipe right out of the Ball Blue Book and scrimcoached the jam recipe. As i cooked down the fruit i perchanced to notice that the coupon found in my pectin box was dated 2008…. finding that odd i looked more closely at the expiration date on the pectin itself: April 2010! Woopsy! I only bought this pectin last year, though i did buy it from the bare and no de-funct grocery store here in Philomath…… Note my lack of fastidiousness. Luckily, the jam tastes and jelled just fine- so i think i’m in the clear. I used about 2 cups sugar to 5 pounds chopped plums and berries with a splash of lemon juice and a package of pectin. I can’t wait for toast this Winter spread on homemade bread and raw butter. No baking this time of year, it’s too darned hot!
What’s been filling your canning jars so far this Summer?
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Your jam sounds delicious Miranda. Has my mouth watering and thinking about these beautiful plum trees that grew near an old abandoned farm house that sat on the property of a rifle range we used to go to and camp at in Wisconsin while dad practiced shooting or had rifle matches. When the plums were ripe we used to eat and eat and eat them. Enjoy your plum jam. It looks wonderful.
So far I have put up pickled peppers of every kind, dilly beans and zucchini relish.
I LOOOOVE plum jelly. I believe both my grandmothers made it, and it was such a new and different taste when I was a kid visiting grandparents. LOVE IT! I’ve got some plum trees I put in last year, but I think it’s going to be awhile before they bear fruit. I usually go to the farmers market and buy a variety of plums (big eating ones, smaller prune plums) to mix together. Nothing better than a PBJ made with plum jelly!
Now as good as your post looks/sounds, I’m more curious about the word “scrimcoached”. Can’t find a definition for it anywhere online. Typo? Local expression? I’m guessing it’s like “ad libbed”?
Ha ha – you’re not the first person to ask me about that saying, Jeph. I’ve been using that word my whole life, so it’s either a regional (Connecticut) thing i picked up as a kid, a regional (New York) thing i got from my mom, or a regional (Oklahoma) thing i got from my grandmother. I have done some research, and it actually does come from something… you know what a scrimmage match is? When a team breaks into smaller teams to practice play? A scrimmage coach: scrim-coach: essentially means “jerry rigged” or “pulled together from your wits.”
I like that word, scrimcoach, given it’s what I do with jams and jellies all the time. May I borrow it?
Also I wouldn’t worry about pectin for plum jam — it seems to set quite well enough without it. I made some this week, and it was the perfect set after just 5 minutes of a fast, fast boil.
Of course you may borrow it!
I’m brand new to jamming for the most part, so i’m never sure what jams need pectin and what don’t – i figure using it won’t hurt, right? I’ll try it next time without and see how it goes. Thanks!
Personally I don’t like to use pectin except perhaps for cherry jam (which really doesn’t seem to want to set without it) and this year I even tried grating an apple in instead and using the pectin from that. It just seems such a shame to use all fresh/natural/unprocessed ingredients, and then throw in commercial pectin, which often gives it a somewhat gluey set. But tastes differ.
[…] I have to thank blogger Mirandasoap for her use of the magnificent verb to scrimcoach, which she defines as to pull together from […]