As fall approaches, my attention is shifting to our fruit trees. A few years back we planted a peach and two apple trees along the perimeter of our packed yard; they are now bursting with fruit, as is our dwarf plum. While we eat the peaches and apples straight off the trees, each fall we make a habit of picking the tart little plums and making our own homemade jam from them.
During this last weekend, the boys commenced with our plum harvest. First, they went out to the yard and shook the fruit down from the tree. Then they collected the plums in a large (unbreakable) metal bowl. Next, we gathered in the kitchen and made this tangy fruit spread.
- 4 cups plums, pitted and halved
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoon water
- 10 drops stevia
- 1 vanilla bean
- In a large covered saucepan, bring plums, agave and vanilla bean to a boil
- Lower heat, uncover pot and simmer 15 minutes, until plums are dissolved (though skins will remain)
- Cook 10 more minutes to reduce mixture, then stir in stevia
- Remove vanilla bean, place plum mixture in vitamix and puree on highest setting
- Transfer mixture back to pot and reheat on stove
- In a small bowl, combine arrowroot powder and 1 tablespoon water to make a slurry
- Bring plum mixture to a boil, then add arrowroot slurry, stirring continuously, until incorporated
- Remove from heat, cool and transfer to mason jars
- Store in refrigerator for up to one week
Feel free to play with the amount of agave and stevia called for in this recipe. I used a lot of each sweetener because our plums are small and quite sour. If you don’t have stevia, just use agave. If you don’t have either, experiment with your own choice of sweetener.
I use arrowroot in this recipe (and many others) as a thickener, I’m not quite sure what would make a good substitute if you don’t have that on hand. One solution might be to reduce the jam down to your desired thickness, cooking out most of the liquid. If you do find that something else works in place of arrowroot, please leave a comment and let us know. In terms of using another fruit in place of plums, I imagine that might work –again, if you experiment with this, please share your results.
This thick gluten free, naturally sweetened, no sugar plum jam is delicious on pancakes, toast or warmed up over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream.
Tomorrow evening, September 17th at 5pm, I will be speaking at Pharmaca on Pearl Street in Boulder with Margaret Romero CNP, of Helios Health Center. She will be discussing alternative treatment methods for recalcitrant celiac disease and I will talk about the social aspects of dealing with this diagnosis.
Sue Ellen Messer says
I’d really like a strawberry jam. Do you have a recipe for it. I used to make freezer strawberry jam but contained sugar!
I love your website! It has helped me and my husband so much! Thank you ,Thank you.
Elana says
Sue, that is such a great idea! I will add strawberry jam to my list of recipe requests :-)
Julie says
Hi there, could you use any fruit with this recipe please? Love your posts emailed to be in Christchurch New Zealand. Also just ordered a coupe of your books from Amazon! Jules
Jamie says
I believe you could use Chia seeds to help it thicken but I will just boil it down to my thickness desired. Thank you for helping me make jams for my children to enjoy
Jody Gauthier says
Tapioca works well.
Theresa says
Do U have some other jam or jelly recipes? How about freezer jam recipes?
charles says
Hi Elana,
I use agar agar as a thickener. Make sure it’s totally dissolved in a small quantity of boiling water before adding.
Best wishes.
Charles
Spain
Georgia says
Hi Elana,
I just whipped this jam up. I found that letting it reduce a little longer, it was thickened by the time I was done pureeing it. I have to admit, this almost didn’t make it into jars, it was SO good right out of the blender, lol.
Thank you for making jam possible for me again!
Jessica says
Can you freeze this jam? I’m making such a big batch, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat it in a week’s time.
elana says
Thanks for the report Crystal!
Crystal says
I used honey (1/4 cup for 2 cups of plums) and no additional sweetener. But, my plums were very ripe. I also didn’t have a vanilla bean, so I just added organic gluten free vanilla at the end. Turned out great.
elana says
Kitchen Goddess – It was delicious, let me know how it turns out for you when you make it :-)
Kitchen Goddess says
As soon as I get some plums in my organic fruit box I’ll give this a whirl, sounds wonderful.
elana says
Kristen -Thanks, I do too.
pie -Please see the recipe above, which notes that I puree the skins into the jam.
Melissa -That is such a great idea, thanks for sharing.
Rhonda -Thanks so much for your sweet and joyful comment!
Freedom -Great idea, thanks for sharing.
Hannah -Yes, I use kudzu and arrowroot interchangeably, I think they are different forms of the same thing.
Mariella – I love the idea of using lemon juice; so natural!
Jim says
How do you preserve the jelly for a longer time period?
Mariella says
Elana, i’ve made jams before…in an other country, an other life it seems…and i’ve never used a thickener. Plums do have pectin though under-ripe plums have more. The best source of pectin is lemon juice so for insurance (not the AIG type) you could try adding the juice of one lemon if you’d like to try it without the arrowroot. At any rate it sounds decadent….I adore plums and it takes me back to stirring a potful of blissfully sticky plum jam with my mum so many years ago…i’ll try this with my kids.
Mariella
Hannah says
I have used kudzu instead of arrowroot for your chocolate pudding and it was great. Thanks for this website and all the great recipes.
Freedom says
fruit pectin is an all natural jam thickener that comes from apples I believe. I know for sure that it comes from fruit and is not an artificial product. It even comes in a handy gel packet now, that you just squeeze into your jam, instead of measuring out the pectin powder.
Rhonda says
Thank you! I love this website just diagnosed a few weeks ago, I am having fun cooking healthy and feeling GREAT! I have been craving jam but dont want the surgar so I am so greatful, staying away from anyting processed just eating whole foods, so I really like your site. What a joy you are.
Melissa says
We used tapioca flour as a substitute thickener in your peach crisp recipe and it turned out wonderful. I bet tapioca flour could be used in the same manner for your vanilla plum jam recipe.
pie says
looks yummy. i just wonder what you did with the plum skins. my jam always has those and it’s frustrating.
Kristen says
What a delicious recipe! I love fresh produce from your very own yard. You can’t beat it!