Plum jam: product properties, application and recipes

As is well known, with a significant heat treatment, fruits and berries lose most of the vitamins and beneficial elements.But do not drain! Of course, some of the useful ingredients are still destroyed during the cooking process, but on the whole, it is not only delicious, but also healthy dessert.

Jam of plums is a thick homogeneous dessert without inclusions with a sweet-sour taste. Its consistency and taste depends largely on the method of preparation, the type of plums and the presence or absence of additional components. For example, the plum-apple delicacy will be thicker than just plum. Although the apple palette of tastes in it is almost not felt.

Soft, ripe and even overripe, battered plums are suitable for jam. Regardless of the recipe, the cooking process involves washing and removing bones from the fruit. After that, the berries are given the consistency of mashed potatoes (this can be done either raw or by boiling down the plums), sugar is added, and the jam is cooked until ready. As you can see, making jam for the winter at home is quite simple.

In finished form, it is used as a dessert, and also added to pastries. Fans of homemade tinctures and wines often make low alcohol drinks based on plum jam.

Additional components that provide the jelly-like structure of the product are not required due to the high content of pectin in the berries. Spices are added to the flavor and variety of flavors; lemons or citric acid are added to the light acidity.

Plum itself is rich in pectins and minerals, among which are zinc, calcium, potassium, sodium, iodine and others. As well as the high content of vitamins A, E, vitamins of group B, ascorbic acid.

During heat treatment, part (up to 30%) of them is destroyed, but here it all depends on the method of preparation. If you want not only to enjoy a delicious dessert, but also to get the maximum benefit from it, you should choose those recipes that imply minimal thermal effect.

However, vitamin P contained in berries is completely preserved during the cooking process. It has a beneficial effect on the vascular system, preventing the appearance of cholesterol "plaques", increasing the elasticity of blood vessels and reducing blood pressure. Jam of plum also has a slight laxative effect.

This dessert is quite calories, on average, per 100 g of product there are 285 kcal, of which more than 70% remains on carbohydrates. This is due to the large (up to 60%) sugar content. Naturally, the dish can not be called diet. Those who use it without measure may face the problem of overweight, diathesis.

Recipes for plum jam jam set. We will review the most interesting of them.

This method of preparation can be considered basic, having mastered it, you can experiment with additional components in order to get unusual tastes every time.

For cooking you will need:

• 1.2 kg of ripe, non-wormy plum with sandpaper;
• 900 g of granulated sugar;
• 5 g of citric acid or a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Rinse the drain thoroughly, remove the sticks and twigs, add water, and then put on a slow fire until boiling. As soon as the first bubbles appear, and the peel of the fruit becomes soft and crackling, it is removed from the heat, the broth is drained, and the berries are left to cool in natural conditions.

Next, the bones should be removed from the berries, and the resulting mass is mastered with a blender. The next step is to add sugar and stir the composition, followed by boiling over low heat for 2-3 hours. 5-10 minutes before readiness, citric acid or juice is added to the composition, and the jam is thoroughly mixed.

In the process of cooking, you should regularly stir the mass and, as necessary, remove the foam.Immediately after turning off the fire, the jam will be quite liquid, but as it cools, it will acquire a jelly-like consistency.

After the banks have cooled, they are filled with jam (it should also cool down a bit) and rolled up with lids. Closed cans are put on the lids, that is, the top with their feet and wrapped in a towel. After a day or after the composition has cooled, the banks are turned over again and removed for storage in a cool place.

Of course, jam prepared according to this recipe is not forbidden to eat simply with tea, but due to the low moisture content in it, it is optimal for adding to baking.

The following ingredients are required for its preparation:

• 3 kg of ripe plums;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• 200 ml of water.

First of all, the plums should be well washed, remove the rotten fruit. The important point is that even a small piece of rot can ruin the taste of the whole pan of jam!

After that, from the clean plums you need to remove the bones, which is convenient to do by making cuts on the fruit. Peeled plums are folded into a deep pan and, adding water, put on a slow fire. It is better to take a cast-iron, ceramic or enameled cooking utensils, it burns less jam. The ideal option is a thick-walled cauldron, a low and wide pan with a thick bottom. It is better to add quite a bit of water at first, it is necessary so that the plums do not burn.

It is necessary to boil the mixture for about an hour, after which the whole norm of sugar should be added, mix thoroughly and put on the fire again. Jam is considered ready when its mass is reduced by a third. You can cook intermittently, keeping between them for 3 hours.

The cooled jam is decomposed into pre-prepared jars, rolled up with lids and put away for storage.

When using such kitchen "helpers" as a bread maker and a slow cooker, the cooking process of the jam can be less troublesome.

Products:

• 1 kg of ripe plums;
• 150 ml of water;
• 80 g sugar.

Plums should be prepared - to sort, wash, remove the bones. The resulting composition is poured into a saucepan and covered with sugar. It is better to do it in layers - sprinkling some berries should be covered with sugar, then berries again, and so on. In this form, the mixture should be left for 3-4 hours.

After this time, the berries with sugar are transferred to the bread maker's bowl, water is added and the “jam” mode is selected. If there is none, select the cooking mode and set the time to 90 minutes.

The finished composition is puriur by means of a blender, and then rolled into jars.

The number of products and their preparation are similar to those indicated in the previous recipe. The halves of the plums after the stones are taken out of them, immersed in the bowl of the blender and mixed with sugar, water is added.

It is necessary to cook in the “stewing” mode for 2 hours. 10 minutes before the end of the process, open the multicooker lid and evaluate the structure of the jam. If it is too liquid, you can add pectin or gelatin.

Usually the preparation time of jam in recipes is indicated approximately. A more accurate method for determining the readiness of a dish is to drop a small amount of jam on a plate and wait for it to cool. If the jam does not spread on a plate, it is considered ready.

Finished plum jam can be given a more original taste, using the Hungarian method of cooking. In this country, the cooked jam is poured into sterilized jars and placed in an oven. Banks at the same time put on a baking sheet, covered with foil or baking paper.

In this form, the jam remains for an hour at a temperature of 180-220C. On its surface should form a dense crust.When ready, the oven is turned off and the banks are left in it until it cools completely. After that, they are rolled up with lids and cleaned for storage.

The best grade for jam - plums with thin skins from which the stone is easily taken (for example, a grade "Hungarian"). If you use fruits with thick skin, it is better to pre-reduce them a little, pass through a sieve. This will ensure the tenderness and uniformity of the finished dish.

To achieve an unusual taste of jam, you can mix several varieties of plums. Another secret ingredient is butter, which is introduced at the very end of cooking in a volume of about 2 tablespoons, regardless of the amount of jam. Butter can be replaced or combined with cocoa at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 1 kg of plums or bitter chocolate (2 tablespoons of grated chocolate per 1 kg of jam).

Spices that are put at the end of cooking or even ready-made jam make it possible to give an unusual taste to the jam. Cardamom, cloves, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon are well combined with plums. Directly under the covers you can put a sprig of mint.

How to cook homemade plum jam, see the next video.