[GrannieAnnie]

We had to go to Cambridge on Wednesday, and I asked OH if we could stop at a big fruit stall that we pass to see what fruit they had going cheap.  Oh it'll be expensive on there he says, well, I got 2 x 5lb bags of slightly overripe plums for £1, and used one of them to make jam, the other bag I cut up and froze for the next time I get some jam sugar.

And this time the jam actually set properly!!!! Waaaaay.  Tis loverly too, so got 6 more jars towards the winter stores.

My brother can't understand why anyone would want to MAKE jam (even though he has had a go in the past!) when it is fairly cheap in the shops!!!!

[flatcap]

well done ga

                                      i made plum jam last week ,had to boil it twice

and add sugar with pectin to get it to set :oops:

 jam is cheap in the shops ,but not a patch on homemade

[richyrich7]

Yep well done Grannie I might be tempted myself this year, never tried making jam before. My OH has a great recipe for fridge jam, it don't set and has to be kept in the fridge taste's lovely.

[chrissie B]

i also made some plum jam (one of my favs)but had bugs in some of the plums so i took the fruit out of my plum brandy and added that its got a bit of a kick , just nice for those cold damp winter days , need to practise my crumpet making .
chrissie b

[GrannieAnnie]

I've never made crumpets, must have a go one day!

I know jam is cheapish in the shops flatcap, but step son came last week when I was making my first lot of plum jam, and he said is it cost effective?

Well, sometimes it isn't is it?  But this lot of plum jam, say I've got 12 jars of jam, of various sizes.  The jam sugar cost me £4.32 and the 10lbs of plums cost me £1.  So for just over £5, I've got 12 jars of jam.  That's a jar a month for a year!!!!

My blackcurrant jam only cost me the sugar, because I got enough currants off my little 4 year old blackcurrant bush which had self seeded.  The most expensive was the strawberry jam as the strawberries were 65p a lb!  Plus the bit of electric to cook it.  Jars are saved each year, so they are free too.

Yes, richy, have a go.  Even if you don't eat a lot of jam, its lovely on top of a bit of ice ceam or greek yogurt, and if it doesn't set, be like me and call it a conserve!!!!!    

[Lesley Jay]

My Mum used to make crumpets and they were fabulous. She used the ring off a loose bottom sandwich cake tin as a former so her crumpets were 8 inches across!!

[GrannieAnnie]

That's a BIG crumpet!!!!  

So it wasn't a case of how many crumpets do you want?  But how many slices of crumpet do you want!!!! lol

[Lesley Jay]

That's a BIG crumpet!!!!  

So it wasn't a case of how many crumpets do you want?  But how many slices of crumpet do you want!!!! lol

Yes it was!!!

You have got me fancying trying to make some crumpets now. I know I haven't got her old recipe so I must search and see if I can find a good one.

[GrannieAnnie]

The thing is Lesley, that we won't know a good recipe until we've tried them out!  I know I've got a couple of recipes in various books, so we'll have to compare notes!!!

[Heather_S]

I was vaguely looking at the supermarket for plum jam but there's not much plum jam out there really. I made plum jam from my weirdo plums that I don't know what they're called, red skin yellow fleshed things. I've made 10lbs of plum jam, thank goodness the tree has finally started to run out because I also have a few lbs of halved plums in my freezer too  :shock:

I made up a nice chinese plum sauce the other day with the jam.

1 shallot chopped finely
a sprinkling of granulated garlic
about 1/4-1/2tsp chinese 5 spice powder
about 1/4-1/2c. plum jam (US measurement, sorry not sure what it'd be in metric, about a quarter to one third of the 1lb jar or thereabouts)
I missed out a bit! :arrow: 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar

Heat it up in a sauce pan and let it simmer for a while. Fantastic with pork chops and rice  

[GrannieAnnie]

Mmmmm, that sounds nice Heather, thanks for that recipe!!!!