Plum Jelly
Plum Jelly
Mamta Gupta
This recipe is based on my late father Suresh Chandra Gupta's Guava Jelly recipe. He was the jam, jelly, pickle and preserve maker and botteling expert in my parent?s house. This jelly is not only good on toast, it can also be served with roast poultry, on top of rice pudding etc.
Makes approximately 10 standard jam jars
Ingredients
1 kg. plums, just ripe, neither over-ripe nor under-ripe fruit is suitable. A mixture of both is usually a good option.
A large pan. This stops the boiling hot liquid from splashing all over.
Water, see step 2
Sugar, see step 7
Juice of 1 lemon (optional)
Cooking thermometer, if available
Clean, screw top jars. I often ask friend with babies and toddlers to collect the food jars for me.
Instructions
Wash and drain plums.
Place in a pan, add enough water to be just under the surface of the fruit.
Bring to boil and simmer on medium heat until fruit becomes soft. Stir/mash it from time to time to release the pectin. Do not overcook. This can be done in a pressure cooker, by boiling under full pressure for 2 whistles/pressures/minutes. If using pressure cooker, wait until it is cool, before opening it. Then mash the fruit.
Place the whole pulp in a 'jelly bag' or a large colander lined with a muslin type of cloth. Tie it at the top end, like a bag.
Hang it on something convenient, with a bowl to collect the juice below it. I hang it on my pantry tap, with a bowl in the sink below. You have to be sure that no one else is going to come and put the tap on!
Allow to drip into the bowl for 12 hours or longer. Do not squeeze the bag or your juice and jelly will become cloudy.
Now measure the juice.
For plums, 1 kg sugar to 1 litre juice is usually enough. In medium pectin fruits 1.5 kg sugar to 1 litre juice is required.
Warm juice, add lemon juice and add sugar. Stir gently to dissolve sugar.
Bring extract to boil,Continue boiling briskly, not slowly. Slow and prolonged boiling will slowly convert the pectin into pectic acid and jelly will not set.
While the juice is boiling, place the jars (without lids) on a tray in an oven at 180? C.
Keep a watch on boiling juice as it boils over very quickly and is a nightmare to clean off the cooker! Boil until setting point* (see the notes below) is reached. Turn heat off.
After a few minutes, the scum will settle on the top. Skim it off with a fine wire strainer
Bottling:
Heat jars in an oven for 15 minutes.
Place jars on a wooden board.
Place a spoon in the jar (to avoid it cracking) and pour the jelly using a metal funnel.
Close screw top lids and turn the jar up-side-down. This creates a better seal and prevents mould formation-Tip from Ian Hoar. Allow to cool.
Label and store.
Notes
*Setting point Tests:
a) Chill a couple of saucers in the freezer. Place one teaspoon of jelly on the saucer, allow it to cool for half a minute, part it with a finger. If it remains parted or forms a wrinkle as your finger pushes it, it is ready to set. Or, if you turn the plate on its side, the jam doesn?t slide off but wrinkles.
b) Boil until a temperature of 221? F to 222? F (104?-105? C approximately) is reached. Stop boiling as this is the setting point. All thermometers are not accurate. Therefore, carry out other tests for setting point as well.
c) Allow the jelly to sheet from a paddle or a large spoon; when you put a paddle in the boiling jam, then take it out and hold it still. The jam runs off it slowly at first and then it partly congeals, breaking off from it in triangles that hang. The process is complete and jam has reached setting point.
d )Pick a little jelly on the tip of you index finger from the ladle, and stretch it between finger and thumb. If you get one wire pulling out, it is ready. Allow it to cool just a little before bottling.
To make Plum and Chilli Jelly, you can either add chillies at the fruit boiling stage, or add a little chilli powder once it has reached the setting point, see last picture.
