Plum, apple and marrow jam

Plum, apple and marrow sounds a bit odd as a combination. However, there was method to my madness in putting them together as a jam on Friday. Plums provide the flavour, apples the pectin to set the jam and marrow bulks out the jam. Marrow absorbs the flavour of what it is cooked with.



This is my recipe:

• 2kg stoned plums
• 1kg apple (peeled and cored)
• 1kg marrow (peeled and seeds removed).
• 4 kg sugar

Chop all the fruit. Put the marrow in the jam pan and cover with water. Simmer the marrow for 10-20 minutes, then add the apple and plum. Bring back to the boil then simmer until all the fruit has pulped. Add the sugar, bring back to the boil and keep on a rolling boil until the setting point is reach (put a dollop on a plate and leave for a couple of minutes - if it forms a skin, it has reached setting point). Put the jam into hot, sterilised jar.

If you have a large number of plum stones, use them to make plum vodka. Put all the stones in a storage jar, enough to half fill it, along with any bashed and bruised plums, add 200g of sugar and then 70cl of cheap, supermarket own brand vodka. Give the jar a good shake every day for 2 weeks, then every week for a couple of weeks, then leave to stand for a few months. Strain and bottle. 

I haven't yet put enough plum stones into the jar to make this a worthwhile exercise. However, I did get 14kg of plums on Wednesday (it cost 2 jars of honey and 4 jars of chutney) so I am not going to have a problem getting enough stones.