Guide to making your own Homemade Jam

How do you make your own jam? It's the question I get asked all the time. Firstly it helps if you have a plum tree in your garden like I do. Oh and also a good wife that knows how to turn plums into jam. Luckily I have both, and I documented the process so you can learn how to make jam with these simple instructions.

So our one plum tree has yielded circa 40kg of plums. But what is the process?

It begins with the husband, up the ladder, getting the best plums. Foraging.

Then stoning the plums. I recommend sitting down, with a good Netflix doc whilst doing this. Its basic prison work.

Now then, you will need a Tefal All in One Pan.

Put 3.5kg of plums in the pan. You must use a weighing scale for that but I'm guessing you might have one in the house somewhere.

1.5kg of sugar. (I know right?) Sugar is not just to sweeten the taste, it's also to ensure that the texture of the plums bind at boiling temperature. Other recipes say 2kg but we're trying to be a tad healthy.

We added orange juice and lemon juice, and the peel as I love a thick cut jam.

However many you want to add is up to you.

In some experimental batches we included some hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds.

Bring it to the boil, and stir it repeatedly so it doesn't burn at the bottom.

Wait for it to get to 104 degrees, and you can use a Dual Probe thermometer.

You will need jam jars. They need to be sterilized in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 and the caps need to be boiled in a pan to fully ensure they've been cleaned.

When it's ready add some more nuts at the end. Spoon the boiling hot jam into the jars, very carefully.

Do not put them in the fridge, at all. We will be storing ours in the basement.

I recommend getting some small jars or repurposing some jam jars so you can make small batches to give to friends.

TIP: You can also add some nutmeg and cinnamon like we did. In total we have made 7 different batches.

ANOTHER TIP: You can also make a tart with your fruit. Buy puff pastry, whip one egg and spread it over. Cook it for ten minutes on 160, it will get fluffy and rise. After, take it out and put Creme fraiche, or natural yoghurt. Then put the fruit on and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes until its crisp and cooked.