For folks who own potent, high-performance blenders like a Vitamix or Blendtec, this blender-eggnog recipe has been modified. Because these blenders friction-boil liquids, cooked, non-alcoholic eggnog may be created quickly!
| Cook Time: | 5 hrs 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 7 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 100 |
| Yield: | 12 pints |
Ingredients
- 5 pounds fresh Damson or Damask plums
- 1 cup water
- 12 whole cardamom pods
- 4 cups white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon butter
Instructions
- Rinse and de-stem plums in a sink full of cool water; place them into a thick-bottomed pot suitable for slow cooking and deep enough to allow frothing when plums begin to boil. Add water and cardamom pods; bring to a low boil over medium heat. Turn heat to low for a slow simmer and allow plums to cook down uncovered for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Strain cooled plums in a colander set over a large bowl. Press juice out with your hands, collecting it in the bowl. Pick up small handfuls of the pit-and-fruit slurry in the colander and squeeze pulp and skins gently into the bowl with the syrup, retaining the pits in the palm of your hand and then discarding them.
- Place plums back into the pot. Add sugar and butter; mix well. Cook at a very low simmer until jam thickens, about 4 hours. Test for adequate development of pectin by dropping a spoonful of jam onto a plate and putting it in the refrigerator for a few minutes: jam should be soft-set and no longer syrupy.
- Ladle jam into hot, sterilized jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Run a clean knife or thin spatula around the insides of the jars to remove any air bubbles. Wipe rims with a moist paper towel to remove any residue. Top with the lids and screw the rings on tightly. Allow the jars to cool to room temperature and check to be sure that each jar has sealed.
Reviews
The cardamom makes this awesome. Made a half recipe because I didn’t have that many plums, but it only made 3 jars. I question the 12 pints the recipe claims. The jam is delicious! Will make again when I have more plums!
I made a double batch as my husband came home with a huge box of plums. I skipped the butter by accident and the taste is wonderful. Once I pulled the 40 pits out I pureed the skins and added the slurry into the jam. My family loves the cardamom flavor with the plums.
Added 1/3 cup milk because the batter was super dry
Used cardamom seeds and just blended it all. Pods might work better as some seeds didn’t get completely blended.
If you delete the water and butter, add 5 pods of 5 star anise, couple of table spoons fresh lemon and cook down the mixture to about one third you will have my Grandmothers plum “butter”! A taste of an Old German memory! Oh and I did cut and pull out the seeds of the Italian prune plums…much easier. I it is thick so you don’t have to do anything to the mixture (you could mash with potato masher ) except pour into your jars! Makes about 5 pints!
Great recipe. My family really enjoyed the favors and texture. I did not have cardamom pods, so I substituted 3 teaspoons of pure almond extract. Thanks for sharing.
This turned out so nice. At the farmers market I found some lovely tart plums. They made a deal with me since I was buying 5 lb. These plums had a a fairly free stone, so I pitted them before beginning. Because of the long process time and so many things happening, I pitted the plums the night before and refrigerated them in water with a splash of lemon juice. I used that as cooking liquid the next day. I did add a little ground allspice in the second cooking. It smelled heavenly. Since this was my first attempt I am not sure if this added a lot, but the flavor is so good. I will make this again! Update! I took this into work today with some English muffins and a few cheeses. I also took in a jar of my apricot jam. This was gone in short order. It is a little tart and a little spicy. This is going to be a part of my party package gift packages.
Made it yesterday, and tried it today. We liked it, and will make it again.
Adapted this recipe to a quarter-batch, using dark prune plums. Worked perfectly except for cooking time. Simmered for two hours after removing pits and began to suspect that was way too long. I was right — the jam was delicious, but set up like rubber. Second batch, cooking time after pit removal = 45 minutes. Jam turned out perfect. Suggestion: Add Allspice alongside the Cardemom. Tasted good!
So far sounds perfect- I hate pitting fruit to can. I do a lemon jam this way, so I’m pretty sure it’ll work. I did put in 2 cinnamon sticks, about a teaspoon of ground cardamom, and a Tablespoon of lemon juice. Update: I learned a cool method of pitting and peeling, but jam is too tart, and didn’t firm up, stayed a syrup. Fruit also had a burnt flavor because it cooked so long. Will be a perfect cobbler filling.
Only had 2.14 lbs so the cardamom was dropped to 7 pods and the sugar to 2 cups. Cooked for about an hour and made 4 half-pints. Never again will I waste my time or ingredients by fishing for plum seeds in the jam. Cut the plums in half before you begin, remove the seeds, and save yourself a lot of mess, time, and most importantly, fruit. The finished jam is tart and delicious. Will make it any time I can get my hands on Damsons.
Made almost 9 (8oz) jars of jam. I followed the recipie exactly except I used Italian prune plums and I took the cardamom seeds out in the last 20-25 minutes of cook time (minus one rogue seed). I like the plum skins in there as well, I wasn’t sure how the texture would be but it’s fantastic. Thanks for the recipe, it made for a wonderful first go at “canning,” super easy and straight forward.
This was a great recipe to use up my tiny little tart plums from my “fruitless” plum tree. They all ripen at the same time, about the size of a golf ball. Too tart to enjoy and too many to try to eat anyway. This was exactly what I needed to try to use up a few bucket full of the little guys.
Plums and cardamom – what a combination! I love making preserves without pectin, because all you taste is summer.
Easy and delicious jam recipe without canning or pectin! Didn’t have Cardamom but used one star anise and orange rind. Yummy result. Making more as gifts.
We have 3 plum trees and a huge number of plums this year. I have already used over 30 pounds of plums and have more to go. This recipe is delicious just the way it is, with no changes. I am sticking to what I know works this year. Maybe I will try to make some changes another time, but then again. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Thanks so much for this recipe. Everyone has loved it so far.
This jam is superb! I love that the tangy sweet flavor of the plums is enhanced by the long slow cook they get. I did remove the cardamom pods when I pitted the plums and added a teaspoon of ground cardamom with the sugar. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly, and my jam set up perfectly well without any pectin. I have a plum tree that is currently loaded with fruit, so I will definitely be making more of this to give to loved ones at the holidays!
The jam tastes great, but it did not set up for me. It’s more of a plum sauce than jam. If you are an inexperienced jam maker probably best to use some pectin. Perhaps if I knew more about jam making I would have recognized that it was not going to set up.
We devoured this jam with leftover plums (not damsom perhaps but a sour variety) and enjoyed it most with queso fresco cheese on toast.
Turned out very well! I did use sugar free pectin, along w/ 1/2c of sugar (1/4c truvia, 1/4c regular sugar). The plums I had were only about 3 lbs worth, but yielded 4 nice small jars of jam. It did set a bit light, but very good. I also added 2 cinnamon sticks. Would make again! Thanks!!
I believe the plums I used were Italian prune plums, which I understand are much sweeter than sour Damsons, but I used all the same proportions of ingredients called for in the recipe. Still very good jam, especially with the cardamom! After the plums were cooked I ran them through a food mill. After I added the butter and sugar to the mixture I only cooked the jam about an hour more (low simmer). My yield was about 9 half pints. I also processed them in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (I live at high altitude– about 4600 feet) Thanks for the recipe!