Easy wild plum jelly/jam

[PJean63]

This is really easy and I do it in about 30 minutes.

Makes about 10 8oz jelly jars.

4 lbs of sandhill/or beech plums 3 lbs ripe, 1 lb underripe(for the natural pectin)

1 cup of water

1 package of boxed pectin

6 cups of sugar

Directions:
Wash and pick through plums. Start your canning lids and jars in hot water bath(if you have never canned anything before I suggest looking up directions on boiling your equipment)

In the bottom of a nonstick or enamel pan, put the cup of water, and plums in and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Using a vegetable masher(potato masher) smush fruit in the bottom of the pan.
Now depending on if you want jelly , strain the fruit through a jelly bag or cheese cloth bag. I just put the fruit in a colander and mash the pulp through into a pan. Then add enough water to bring the liquid up to 3 cups and place back in the nonstick pan, bringing it to a boil mix in the pectin. Add the sugar at a full boil stirring constantly at a hard boil for 2 minutes.

Remove hot jars from water and line on counter on a tea towel.

Remove jelly mixture from the heat ( you can check it using a metal spoon to see if it "sheets" from the spoon and slowly drips back into the pan) and skim any foam off the top. immediately ladle into the jars on the counter leaving 1 " from the top of the jar. Put the canning lids on the jars and leave to set up and cool.

This is easy and quick and my family loves the taste of home made jam and jellies.