Plum Canning

While hanging out with Jeremy's step Dad over Labor Day weekend, we discovered that he has a plum tree and this was the first year it was producing fruit since he moved in.  So, I took advantage and brought back about 15lbs of fruit.  I decided to make jam with them.  Since the fruit was so small, it was difficult to pit them (I would've lost too much of the fruit to actually can them).  So, I found a recipe for some small Italian plums that required you to cook the fruit down first.  I borrowed a big pot from a friend and got started.

Fruit all cooked down and cooling so I could pull out the pits.  This was the most time consuming part and my least favorite step.  It was messy and hard to make sure I got all the pits. 

 My lil helper!  She was great at stirring and helped me put in the sugar for the jam part.

 Cleaned jars, waiting for the yummy jam.

 My mother's old canning pot, beside Kristen's shiny new cooking pot. 

After all that work, the jam is done.  I was pleased at how it turned out, and will store them now for future holiday gifts.  :)  But, we did have one that was not full and HAD to sample the jam to make sure it turned out well.  It did!  YUM!