Blommemarmelade

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-bottomed pot, 4-5 litre
• •Wooden spoon
• •Ladle
• •5 glass jars with lids, 250ml each
• •Baking tray for sterilizing

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the plums

   Halve the plums along their natural seam and twist to remove the stones. Don't worry about cutting them neatly. They're going to collapse in the pot anyway. If some of the plums are slightly firm, include them. Under-ripe fruit has more pectin, and pectin is what will set your jam without anything added from a packet.

   A few firm plums mixed in with the ripe ones is not a problem, it's an advantage. The pectin they carry helps the whole batch set properly.
2. 2

   Sterilize the jars

   Wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse them well, and place them upside down on a baking tray in the oven at 120C for fifteen minutes. Leave them in the oven until you need them. The jars must be hot when you fill them. Cold glass and hot jam is how you crack a jar and lose everything.

3. 3

   Soften the fruit

   Put the plum halves into a heavy-bottomed pot with the water. Set it over a medium-low heat. The water stops the fruit from catching on the bottom before the juices release. After about ten minutes the plums will soften and start to break apart. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon, pressing gently against the sides of the pot. You want the fruit to collapse into a rough pulp, not hold its shape in neat halves.

   If the plums are very ripe, they'll break down in five minutes. If they're firmer, give them fifteen. Watch and listen. When the pot goes quiet and the fruit is slumped and soft, you're ready for the sugar.
4. 4

   Add sugar and cinnamon

   Once the plums have broken down into a rough pulp, add the sugar, the lemon juice, and the cinnamon stick. Stir steadily until the sugar dissolves completely. This takes a minute or two. Don't rush it. Undissolved sugar crystallizes in the jar later, and the texture goes grainy. The lemon juice isn't just for brightness. The acid helps the natural pectin in the plums activate, which is what gives the marmelade its set.

   Taste the mixture after the sugar dissolves. If your plums were very tart, you may want another 50g of sugar. Trust your palate. The sweetness will concentrate as the jam cooks down, so don't overcorrect.
5. 5

   Cook until dark and thick

   Bring the mixture to a steady simmer and cook for thirty to forty minutes, stirring more often as it thickens. The color will deepen from bright purple to a dark, almost wine-like garnet. The bubbles will change too. At the beginning they're fast and frothy. As the jam approaches its set point, they slow down and become glossy and heavy, almost reluctant to pop. When the spoon starts to drag across the bottom of the pot and leaves a brief trail before the jam closes over it, you're close.

   Keep a wooden spoon resting across the top of the pot. If the jam threatens to boil over, laying the spoon across the surface breaks the bubbles and calms it. Old kitchen knowledge. It works every time.
6. 6

   Test the set

   Put a small saucer in the freezer before you start cooking. When you think the jam is ready, take the pot off the heat and drop a small spoonful onto the cold saucer. Wait one minute, then push the edge of the jam with your fingertip. If the surface wrinkles, it's set. If it slides freely like a liquid, return the pot to the heat for another five minutes and test again. You'll know when it's right.

   Always take the pot off the heat while you test. If the jam is already past its set point and you keep cooking, you end up with something closer to toffee than marmelade. You can always cook it more. You can't uncook it.
7. 7

   Jar while hot

   Remove the cinnamon stick. Ladle the hot marmelade into the sterilized jars, filling each one almost to the top and leaving just a centimetre of space. Seal the lids tightly and turn the jars upside down for five minutes. This creates a vacuum seal as the jam cools and the air contracts inside the jar. Turn them right-side up and leave them on the counter until completely cool. You'll hear the lids click as they seal. That small sound is the sound of something that will last.

Chef Tips

• •Use the darkest, ripest plums you can find. The small, oval Danish varieties with deep purple skin and golden flesh are ideal. If you can't find Danish plums, any dark freestone plum will work, but taste as you go because the sugar ratio depends entirely on the fruit's own sweetness.
• •The cinnamon stick is traditional, but it should stay subtle. One stick for this quantity is enough. If you use two or leave it in too long, the cinnamon takes over and you lose the fruit. Remove it when you jar the marmelade.
• •Don't stir constantly at the beginning, but stir often toward the end. As the jam thickens, the bottom scorches easily and scorched jam tastes bitter. A heavy pot distributes heat more evenly and gives you a wider margin of safety.
• •This marmelade is beautiful on fresh white bread, on rugbrod with a thick layer of butter, or spooned over cold yogurt on a November morning. It also belongs next to a cheese board, especially with aged Danish cheese. Cooked with love and given time, it's the kind of thing people ask for again.

Advance Preparation

• •Sealed jars keep for up to a year in a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within three weeks.
• •The flavor deepens noticeably after the first week on the shelf. If you can resist opening a jar immediately, the wait is genuinely worth it. The season decides when the plums are ready. The shelf decides when the marmelade is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 20g)