[doganjo]

If anyone ever thinks it is less boring and fiddly to cook plums first and then fish out the stones rather than de-stone them first, believe me it ain't!  I hope no-one breaks a tooth on my jam!  If only I had counted them first - 12lbs of plums - how many stones do I need to find?  Answers on a postcard please to....................................

[northfifeduckling]

I agree, Annie - we had buckets of cherry plums and I thought I'd make jelly. I left the stones in and had to squeeze it through the jelly bag in the end, what a messy fuzz! It's called butter now, as it's no longer clear clear, but give me large plums, heavens, please...

[doganjo]

Lucinda very kindly invited me to her adn Bobby's place and gave me the most ginormous bag of plums.  But they weren't very big so i just couldn't face cutting them in half and taking ALL those stones out!  However, I think i eventually got most of them when they were cooked so here's hoping.  Not sure it's going to set though - nd I've run out of jars!  looking for plastic tubs now!  Can you freeze jam?

[northfifeduckling]

You can always add to plums a few apples or bottles/powdered pectin. Or cook it until it sets. Test by dropping a spoonful on a cold plate, if it wrinkles when you pull a finger through it after a minute in the fridge it will set). To your actual question (sorry, got carried away), yes, you can freeze jam, it's especially good with low sugar jams. I'd freeze in small portions, like cream cheese tubs. 

[doganjo]

Great, got loads of plastic tubs.  Haven't dared go near it yet - should be cold now so will try before I go to bed.  I did add certo so hopefully it's Ok.

[sandy]

What is certo?

[doganjo]

bottled pectin

[garden cottage]

hi Annie, weve done stacks of jam today, last year we destoned them before cooking and it was so messy and time consuming, today i left them in and scooped them out from the top of the cauldron found it much easier, weve picked blaisdons and victorias first batch made 15 jars.......................neil

[doganjo]

Hmm, I just checked mine - it's a bit runny. Ah well, my home made bread often has a dip in the middle so it should be OK

[northfifeduckling]

I decided to stone a kilo of cherry plums for chutney today - only took me an hour (lucky I had an new audiobook from the library to keep me entertained ...) 

[sheila]

Aren't the stones in the plums supposed to add flavour. A sort of almondy taste or have I got that wrong?

[doganjo]

Yes, but not the whole stones - you have to crack a few of them open and add the kernels.  Another flippin tedious chore.  Just hope it's all worth it!  I don't like almonds so haven't done that this time.

[northfifeduckling]

I didn't know that, makes sense. Apricots I knew about. All that work for the jelly must have been good for something then! I do love my teeth and couldn't do that to people by leaving them in a chutney! 

[doganjo]

I only found three stones when jarring it up - so it was all worth it!

[carl]

Just back from two weeks on my jolly holidays. My plum trees are bursting with fruit, just about ripe. will make loads of jam etc. following this topic has made my life much easier, yippee and thanks.