Plum & Rose Jam

On my way back from my mini vacation in Carmel, I stopped by a friends house to pick some plums. They were still pretty unripe so I let them ripen on the counter for about a week and that gave me enough time to play around with ideas on what kind of jam I'd make. I first thought of using cardamom to make it a little Indian-ish but then vetoed the idea when I found dried rose petals in my cupboard (that I'd made last year from organic fresh roses). The idea to additionally use rosewater then clicked, and knowing that plum comes from the same family as rose, I knew it would pair perfectly well together and it did!

The floral notes of the rose highlight plum's fragrance and make it taste complex. Using slightly unripe plums with its skin made sure the jam had a beautiful burgundy color and set quickly without the use of an acid like lemon. The skins of plums have a high amount of pectin and jams donating them tend to jell really well, especially when using slightly unripe fruit.

The resulting jam is beautiful on toast (of course), but is especially great with yogurt that brings out the floral notes of the jam even more. Top it with granola and you have yourself a fabulous breakfast!

Recipe of my own
Makes 7-8 cups of jam (about 3-4 pint jars)

Ingredients:
4.5 lbs plum
4 cups sugar (or about 2.25 lbs/1000 gm)
1/2 cup dried rose petals
1/4 to 1/3 cup rosewater, depending on your preference

Procedure:
Slice the plums thinly and toss with sugar, rose petals ad rose water in a large 8-10 quart saucepan. Bring it to a boil on high heat and lower to medium and cook, stirring almost constantly, for about 20 minutes. If you have a candy thermometer, test to see that the temperature is at 218 F (if at sea level). If you don't have a candy thermometer, put some jam on a plate and chill in the freezer for 2 minutes. When you run your finger through the jam, it should look set and slightly wrinkle at the edges where disturbed. If the jam is not done yet, cook for another 5 minutes and test again. I cooked for almost 30 minutes, but my candy thermometer was wrong :/ My jam set just a tad too much and I could have cooked it for 5 minutes less. Oh well, it still tastes delicious and that's what matters. Pour into sterilized canning jars and put the lids on and boil them in boiling water for 10 minutes. If not making them shelf safe, then instead of dealing with boiling hot water cool these jams for about 24 hours and then freeze them. The jars thaw overnight in the fridge so you can just thaw one at a time as you're using it.