Plum and apple jam

Foraging diaries #11 / Jam diaries #8 : Crab apples

Fifteen minutes drive from home, in Botley, there is an apple tree by the side of a not very busy road that is big and produces plenty of apples. 

Wild apple trees are a common feature in the English landscape. I don't know if it is a true crab apple or a hybrid but the fruit, the tree and the leaves look like a crab apple. The taste of the apple is sharp but it is not as sour and sharp as some other crab apples I have eaten. 

Crab apples (Malus sylvestris) are not commercially sold. They are neither pretty nor sweet so they wouldn't fair well with the usual supermarket shopper. You either have a tree in your garden or you forage for it.

The tree is on public land so I assume it has no owner. Windfalls are left on the ground to rot and it seems to me quite a waste not to take them home and use them. 

Plums and apples are in season at the same time so you can make a very seasonal jam. This one is a Darina Allen's.

I think the plum flavour is more intense, my partner thinks it's the apple. What do you think?

Serves: 920g.

Ingredients:

• 500g plums, halved and stoned
• 250g apples (crab or cooking apples), cored and peeled
• juice of ½ lemon
• 375g granulated sugar

Method:

1. Chop the apples in chunks.
   
   
   
2. Put the apples and plums in a stainless-steel pan with the lemon juice and cook, covered, for 10-15 min or until the fruit is soft.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add the sugar and cook, uncovered, for 8-10 min or until the jam is set.
   
   
   
4. Fill into sterilised jars, and cover with tightly fitting lids. I do not use silicone or paper discs so I fill the jars all the way to the top. The less air inside, the less chances of mold developing. 
5. Store in a cool, dark place. 
   
   
   

How to sterilise jars and lids?

Jars: heat them in a 180°C oven for 10 min. Let them cool.

Lids: boil them in water for 10 min. Let them air dry upside down. If you are tight for time, let them dry on the door of the open oven once you've sterilised the jars and the oven if off.

What is a setting point?

Literature tells us that the jam setting point is reached at 105°C. I bought a sugar thermometer specially for this. I really cannot get my jams to get to 105°C so I quit on the thermometer!

There is an easier way, the wrinkle method, which involves a cold plate. Check this link out: https://www.cookingwithnanaling.com/how-to-tell-when-jam-is-set/

In time you won't need any of these methods. Experience of looking on how the jam sets on your stirring spoon will tell you when it's ready.

How long will the jam last for?

Literature tells you jams will last for 6 months and the more sugar you add to them the longer they will last as sugar is a preservative. Jams usually have a 1:1 fruit to sugar ratio to make them last longer.

Personally, that is not my experience. I usually use half the amount of sugar so a 1:½ fruit to sugar ratio. Some years we are eating jams 1 year later and they are still absolutely fine.

Perhaps the jam has developed a bit of mold on the top when you open it. Do not throw it away!!! Just scoop the mold out and continue eating. If you are a fast eater like my partner, you can store the jam in the cupboard. If you are not, store it in the fridge.