A Great Jam to be In

          Yes, my fellow grammar police people, I ended a headline with a preposition.  And, if this were about raspberry jam, I would give you a raspberry right here.

          But it’s not.  It’s about PLUOT jam. Today, if you check my youtube channel here, you’ll see me telling you how to make this super easy freezer jam.  If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube Mom videos, don’t wait another minute!

          In that video, I promised to post the actual recipe here in my blog, in case you’d like to print it out.  First, let me just say that freezer jam is much easier to make than traditional jam—no boiling water, no tongs.  The only catch is that you have to keep it in the fridge, rather than the pantry.  But it’s a snap to make, so here’s the scoop:

          Begin with sterile jars and lids—run them through the dishwasher.  If using mason jars with rings, use fresh little lids (the disks), rather than used ones, which may not provide a tight seal the second time.  This recipe makes seven 8-oz. jars, so I generally double it to give some as gifts.

          I love to use easy fruit that you don’t have to peel.  This includes berries, of course, but also apricots, plums, and pluots (a hybrid of plum and apricot), shown above.  Wash them, then remove the pits, and chop them: 

Then whirl them in your food processor or blender, to make a pulp. 

          Here’s the recipe:

          3 Cups fruit pulp (add another ¼ Cup if using berries) 

          ¼ Cup lemon juice (double this if you like your jam tart)

          1 pkg. pectin

          1 Cup light corn syrup

          4 & ½ Cups sugar

In a large sauce pan (no heat), stir fruit pulp, lemon juice, and pectin.  Stir every 5 minutes or so, for half an hour.  This is to make sure the pectin is dissolved.  Now stir in the corn syrup, which prevents the sugar from crystalizing in the freezer.  Then stir in the sugar, a cup at a time and heat it to baby-bottle warm, about 100 degrees.  Then pour into jars, attach lids, and freeze.  You’re done!  

When you want some, just take out a jar and thaw it in the fridge.  

Easy peasy, Pluot Squeezy.

And if someone wonderful gave you the fruit in the first place (like my generous neighbor, Mel Thompson), by all means give her a couple of jars to enjoy!