Recipes for Quick and Easy Plum Jam and Upside-down plum cake

 

Do you have a glut of homegrown plums this year as I have?

Why not try these simple recipes for delicious plum jam and a sticky upside-down plum cake?

Before I get to that though, let me tell you about my little plum tree, which grew into a huge plum tree!

 

My little plum tree

 

Thirteen years ago, in 2004, I planted a plum stone (pit), against all odds and despite, in its baby stage, having to be nurtured by my son, while I was living it up in Italy, it flourished!

 

 

I’m not sure what type of plum it is, in Greece it is called “Vanillia”, to me it looks like a Victoria plum but what do I know?

 As 2004 was the year the Olympic Games were held in Greece, I named it “Olympic plum”.

 My little plum tree grew into a big plum tree with not much help from me, just plenty of water and lots of Greek sunshine and after maybe six or seven years produced its first flowers, not many but oh, my excitement when the flowers became fruit.

 Each year my tree produced more and more plums, not enough to actually do anything with, until last year, a bumper crop resulted in a couple of crispy plum crumbles and a deliciously sticky upside down plum cake.

 

 

Recipe for Upside – Down Plum Cake

 

Ingredients:

250 g sugar

250 g butter (Room temperature)

250g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs, lightly beaten

About 1 kilo plums

I tbs brown sugar

Method:

Beat sugar & butter together until fluffy

Beat in eggs, a little at a time

Fold in flour and mix well

I used a square, 24 cm non-stick loose base cake Tin

Grease the cake tin and sprinkle the brown sugar over the base.

Cut the plums in half, remove stone and line the bottom of the tin with the plums, skins facing upwards.

Quarter and remove stones from remaining plums and add to cake mixture, mixing in evenly.

Pour cake mixture into tin and place in oven at 180°C for about 1 hour, until cake is golden brown.

Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Turn out onto a serving plate with the bottom of the cake facing upwards.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

 

 

Well, compared to this year’s crop of plums, last years, which I was quite happy with, was positively meager.

 When the tree blossomed this spring, it was a picture; a cloud of delicate, honey-scented, white flowers which became tiny, hard, green plums, which, as they grew larger, bent the frail branches earthwards under their weight.

 

 

We gathered a few bowls of plums but mostly they were ignored, that is, until one evening, sitting and listening to the “plop” of falling, ripe plums I began to feel guilty, “I must do something with these plums” I thought to myself.

 “Make jam” I was told!

 

 

Jam – making for the first time

 

 I’ve never made jam before and was under the impression it was difficult and time-consuming and that strange equipment, such as funny thermometers and special pans were needed and then there was the rigmarole of sterilizing jars.

 Time to phone a friend, Sophia, who, with her husband Georgos, run a thriving business, To filema tis Lelas in nearby Kiato, which produces the most mouthwatering jams, Greek spoon sweets, chutneys and many more fruity concoctions, all one hundred percent natural.

Sophia had great faith in me; gave me a simple recipe and patiently explained how I was to go about making the perfect jam.

 

Recipe for Sophia’s plum jam

 

 

Ingredients

1 kilo plums

700 g Sugar

Juice of half a lemon

200 ml Water

Method

 Sterilize jars by heating them in a microwave for a couple of minutes, heating them for twenty minutes in the oven at 100 degrees centigrade, or running them through the dishwasher.

 Remove the stones from the plums, cut into small pieces and place in a large pan, along with the sugar, lemon juice and water.

 Stir everything together, bring to the boil and lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally.

 Remove any foam that forms with a slotted spoon.

 

 

As the jam begins to thicken, stir continuously to avoid jam sticking to the pan and burning.

 After about thirty minutes of cooking, test to see if the jam is ready by dropping a spoonful of the jam onto a plate, gently push it with your finger, a line should form and remain in the jam, if not, boil for a further five to ten minutes and test again.

Once the jam is ready, immediately pour into hot, dry, sterilized jars.

Place the lids on the jars tightly and turn the jars upside down (this helps make the jars airtight) and leave to cool.

 Once opened, keep the jam in the fridge.

As I had so many plums (Twelve kilos), I decided to make three kilos of jam at a time, so I trebled the recipe.

 

 

And here we go!

 

Removing the stones from three kilos of plums is no joke, it’s time consuming, MGG and MJGG (My Junior Greek God), were asked to help, which surprisingly, they did quite happily!

 

 

 

After the stones are removed, the plums need to be cut into small pieces, also time-consuming!

 

 

At last, I can begin with my jam making but not before I prepare the jars, I took the easy way out and ran them through the dishwasher, timing it to finish at around the same time as the jam would be ready, so the jars would be hot.

 I used my largest pan, which really was not large enough, everything fit in but once the ingredients came to the boil, it began to bubble and spit; everywhere, on me, the walls, the cupboards and even the floor, which became rather sticky underfoot.

 

 

After about forty minutes of this hubble and bubble, I tested the jam and yes, a line remained in the dollop on the plate, it was ready.

 

 

I poured the ruby, steaming syrup into the jars, quickly put on the lids and turned them upside down, just as Sophia had told me to.

 

 

Then I stood back and proudly surveyed my morning’s work; I had made jam!

I waited anxiously for the jam to cool, I was not only eager to taste the fruit of my labours, but also, to see if the jars had sealed properly, if the lids did not bend and give, making a clicking sound, all was well, it meant they were airtight; to my great surprise, and joy, there was no clicking noise when I pressed the center of the lids, and no give; I had done it!

 

 

 I spread butter onto a slice of fresh, crusty bread and slathered on my jam; lovingly looked at it and took a bite; delicious, I had succeeded, Sophia would be proud of me.

 

 

Here we go again!

 

This is not the end my friends, I still had another nine kilos of plums left and so, for the next three days, I stoned, chopped and boiled.

  My fingernails became sore from digging out the stones and because I was using a pan that really wasn’t large enough for three kilos of plums, I washed down splattered cupboard doors, walls, and myself, more times than I care to remember.

 I produced another six kilos of jam and on the third day decided to try making Greek spoon sweet with plums; now, I had not asked Sophia about this, so went into it blindly, more or less, I did take a glance at spoon sweet recipes on the internet.

 

 

Things went awfully wrong with my Greek spoon sweet, the plums, which should have remained in plump halves, turned to a pulp, not one to be defeated, I made plum syrup, or coulis, call it what you will, by boiling up the plums, zapping them (while still in the pan) with a hand blender, and then passing the mixture through a sieve.

 

 

I bottled the syrup as I did with the jam, in sterilized jars and shall pour it over Greek yogurt, my homemade no-churn Ice cream, as well as over my  Old – fashioned blancmange and creamy panna cotta, and use to top cheesecake, the next time I make one.

 

 

I don’t know how long it will be before my family become sick at the sight of plum jam but right now, I am feeling ridiculously proud of myself for making something which turned out to be so simple.

 

 

I shall take my jam to Sophia and ask her to give me marks out of ten and to find out what went wrong with my Greek spoon sweet, although I really already know;

 I didn’t have Sophia’s expert advice on how to do it!