We're jammin'

As promised, some notes about plum jam.

I've been relying on two sources this summer as my inspiration for jam-making. The first is "Mes confitures", a wondrous little paperback written by Master Pastry Chef and Jam Maker Christine Ferber. Part of the Maison Ferber family in Alsace, Mme. Ferber's jam's are a wondrous thing -- we still have a small pot of cherry jam in the cellar, saved for a Very Special Jam Occasion.

I've just discovered that the book is available in English. So those of you who find my notes a bit hard to follow might want to investigate getting the book instead.

Two of the main problems I have with Ferber's recipes is that they are very artisanal -- in the sense that they require mastery of time-honoured techniques; and that they rely on seasonal ingredients, some of which aren't available where I live.

The former is a problem because I'm not a very skilled jam-maker, and my first attempts to work from her book were less than successful, entirely due to the fact that I have not mastered the art of jam-making. I think that to make these jams, you have to make a lot of jam, and mess a lot of it up as you learn how to tell when things are properly set, because I found that relying on a thermometor was a very uneven bit of business. Either my jams ended up not set properly, or, bluntly, burnt.

The latter is a problem because it means that many of the recipes are unmakeable, including some that I would very much like to make. But no matter how much I might want mirabelles, they just aren't going to show up in my market, so there we are.

But I very much wanted to make Ferber's recipe for "Quetsches d'Alsace et mirabelles 'a la cannelle".

Quetsches are a lovely dark purple plum. Mirabelles are a wondrous little yellow one.

Neither are available where I am.

So I substituted. A purple skinned, yellow-fleshed plum and a little green plum. Of course I don't know the varieties, it's a bane of my existence here that you have to drag varietal names out of the producers.

Ferber called for 500g net (so starting with approx. 600 g) of each of these plums, and that's the amount I used. Also 800g of sugar, lemon juice, two cinnamon sticks and some liquid pectin.

No, Ferber didn't call for the pectin, because she is a jam-maker extra-ordinaire and can turn out perfect artisanal jam without it.

After three failed attempts, I knew that I really couldn't face a fourth, so I fudged with the pectin.

I made a slice in the side of the plums to remove the pit. They were then mixed in a casserole with the sugar, lemon juice and cinammon sticks, and left to macerate for an hour -- this starts the juices coming out of the fruit.

Then I put it in a pot, brought it up to the boil, and then put it back in the casserole. I covered it with baker's (sulpherized) paper, which prevents discolouration. I left it in the fridge overnight.

The following day, I put it back in the pot,brought it up to the boil, boiled it for five minutes, skimming all the time, and then I turned off the heat and put in the liquid pectin. Then into my prepared jars, into the pot for processing, and voila! Plum jam.

I will be honest, I think there's too much sugar in it, but I think that's necessary if you're doing it Ferber's way. I'll make this jam again, probably with the liquid pectin, but I'm going to take out a little bit of the sugar.