Lønnestæde´s plum jam with cinnamon and star anise

The plum season is over us, under us and around us. I love Danish plums, as they have a perfect balance between juiciness and taste compared to the unripened tasteless plums coming from outside Denmark. And many times you can get free plums from family, friends or work colleagues, who is doing their best to get ride of their over-load of plums.

I have used inspiration from this recipe with regards to the use of spices: http://www.dansukker.dk/dk/Tema/ÅRET_RUNDT/Sommer/Pluk_blommer.aspx. However, I find the ratio of 2 part of fruit to 1 part of sugar to suit my taste buds the best instead of 1 part fruit to 1 part sugar.

Plums are quiet sweet in taste like raspberries, so addition of vinegar can help to boost the fruit flavour, as it minimise the overall sweetness. So I decided to add apple vinegar, just like I did in raspberry jam.

As I am lazy "chef" I only cut the plums into 4 pieces, which actual is giving quiet some big plum chunks. However, blending my jam is not an options for me, as I want pieces in my jam. Therefore consider to cut the plums into smaller pieces, if you are less lazy, than I am.

Lønnestræde plum jam:

• 900 g plums - without stones
• 100 g water
• 450 g sugar
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 4 star anise
• 20 g pectin powder
• 1 tablespoon apple vinegar

1. Wash the plums, remove the stone from the plum and cut into the desired size.
2. Heat up the plums in a cooking pot together with a small amount of water.
3. Add the spices as well.
4. When the plums are boiling, add the gelling powder and agitate.It is important NOT to add the sugar at this stage, as the gelling powder need the water from the fruit to hydrate sufficiently.
5. Bring the fruit to the boiling point and let it boil for 2 minutes.
6. Add the sugar to the fruit. It is very important, that you add the sugar little by little, while you agitate, in order to pre-gelling/gel lumps in the jam.
7. Bring the fruit and sugar to the boiling point again and boil for another 2 minutes.
8. Adjust the balance between the sweetness and the fruit flavour by adding vinegar into the jam.
9. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives in my home-made jam, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your jam. Another thing you can do is to store the jam cold afterwards. As the jam is made from 3 parts of fruit and 1 part of sugar, the sugar content is not high enough to preserve the jam.
10. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass
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