Plum jam - Confettura di susine - Pekmez od šljiva

My grandma used to prepare very special plum jam, the one with peaces of dark blue rinds rolled up as small scrolls immerged in sweet violet pulp. Its colour was so dark, near to black. It was sweet and you could feel a delicate citrus smell coming our from the jar. There was no recipe for it. All was added and combined roughly, she never use the scale. This is exactly how my mother prepare her jams and preserves today and it's amazing how she always use the exact quantity of ingredients to get the perfect result! Her plum jam (and not just plum jam!) is even better then grandma's. It is simply perfect,  my mother's homemade jam is my favourite "brand"!
Little by little I've started to prepare some jams and preserves too following my grandma's and my mother's suits. I'm so amused while I prepare it and I'm very proud of myself, because I prepare very good jam too! The easier jam I've ever made is this plum jam. Plums are full of pectin and fructose, you don't need to use much sugar and you don't need to cook it too long. This year our plum tree was full of fruits and I've brought with me to Italy so, so many plums, but we couldn't eat all of them, so I deep-freezed some, I made a cake and at the end I prepared this simple jam.

  

PLUM JAM

500 gr of plums without stones

150 gr of sugar

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

Cut plums into small pieces, put them into casserole and cover the fruits with the sugar. Leave overnight in covered casserole. The fruit will release the liquid and the sugar will dissolve. Cook on low heat about 15 minutes and leave to cool down. Repeat for 3 times. At the end add lemon juice and allow to dry out.

Pour boiling jam into clean jars and close jars. Fill the jar completely, leave very little space between the jam and the cover. Cover the jars with the cloth and leave to cool down. I don’t turn jars upside down, so the cover is always clean and after some time you will hear the clicking sound and the jars will get vacuum-sealed.

 

 

 

CONFETTURA DI SUSINE

500 gr di susine snocciolate

150 gr di zucchero

3 cucchiai di succo di limone

Tagliare le susine in piccoli pezzi, sistemarli in una casseruola e coprire la frutta con lo zucchero. Lasciare riposare per una notte nella casseruola coperta. La frutta rilascerà il liquido e lo zucchero si scioglierà. Far bollire a fuoco lento per 15 minuti e lasciare raffreddare. Ripetere la cottura 3 volte. Alla fine aggiungere il succo di limone e cuocere fino a che la confettura si raddensi.

Versare la confettura bollente nei vasetti di vetro puliti e chiudere i vasetti. Riempire completamente i vasetti, lasciare pochissimo spazio tra la confettura e il coperchio. Coprire i vasetti con un panno e lasciare che si raffreddino. Io non capovolgo i vasetti, in questo modo i coperchi rimarranno puliti e dopo poco tempo si sentirà un click quando si creerà il sottovuoto.

PEKMEZ OD ŠLJIVA

500 gr šljiva očiščenih od koštica

150 gr šećera

3 žlice soka od limuna

Narezati šljive na komadiće, staviti ih u posudu za kuhanje i posipati šećerom. Ostaviti preko noći u pokrivenoj posudi da voće pusti sok i da se šećer otopi. Kuhati na laganoj vatri oko 15 minuta, pa ostaviti da se ohladi. Ponoviti kuhanje 3 puta. Na kraju dodati sok od limuna i kuhati da se pekmez zgusne.

Uliti vreli pekmez u čiste staklenke i zatvoriti poklopce. Napuniti staklenke skoro do vrha da ostane vrlo malo slobodnog prostora između pekmeza i poklopca. Pokriti zatvorene staklenke kuhinjskom krpom i ostaviti ih da se ohlade. Ja ne prevrnem staklenke tako da poklopci ostanu čisti, a i poslije malo vremena čuti će se klik kada se stvori vakum u staklenci.