Fruit is coming on heavily as the summer’s quickly coming to an end… It’s hard to believe only a few short months ago I was planning my gardens and what we’d plant.

I love the seeding and transplanting, the weeding and mulching and then the harvest of each thing planted. It’s such a blessing to be able to grow your own food… to eat what you’ve toiled and sweat for.

Jams and jellies along with a host of pickles and relishes, sauces and soups have started to line our shelves and fill our freezers. What a joy!

Well the other day a friend brought me over a dishpan of Damson plums… I’d never had these ‘small’ yet tasty fruits and thought, “There is no way in the world I am peeling those things!”

But then I remembered my trusty steamer and got the notion to steam them for juice- way less time consuming!  To find out more about this steamer go to https://www.lehmans.com/p-285-10-12-qt-stainless-steel-steam-juicer.aspx   This is the one that I have, but there is a smaller one.

So several hours later I ended up with four beautiful quart jars of the loveliest lavender shaded juice. Now what? Lets make jam!

I tried to think of some other things that might be tasty with plums and I got the notion to do a strawberry-rhubarb jam using the plum juice for the liquid. So off to the great world wide web I went to try and find a recipe. NO luck. I found a plum-rhubarb… but that’s not what I wanted. I had an idea and wanted to use it. I looked a bit more and nothing…

So… now what? I thought,  “I’ll make a plum jelly and add the fruit in like a marmalade…” and that’s what I did! Talk about delicious if I do say so myself 😉

Here’s my recipe!

TIP: When making jams and jellies, it’s very important to have all ingredients properly measured out along with all the supplies readily available. Have the jars washed and set up on a cooling rack with lids and rings easily accessible as soon as the jam or jelly is finished. Place a hot pad right beside the jars so you can place the pot of boiling jam/jelly on. Have your jar filler and ladle set up and ready to fill your jars.

By following these few simple rules, you can speedily fill your jars and not worry about scrambling around and the jam/jelly setting up prematurely.

Now that all your supplies are ready, be sure you have all the ingredients measured out, like the sugar. You will not have time to measure out sugar when the liquid is boiling because during the cooking process you are constantly stirring. Time is very sensitive when making jams/jellies.

So here is my very own…
Plum Rhubarb Strawberry Marmalade Recipe  Yield: 8 jelly jars or 4 pints

Ingredients
3 cups plum juice
1 cup rhubarb
1 cup strawberries
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1- 1.75oz package of pectin, like Sure-jel
5 1/2 cups sugar

Method
1. In a small sauce pot on medium heat cook rhubarb, strawberries and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice until completely soft, stirring often- about 10-15 minutes. Set aside.

2. Put plum juice, package of pectin and 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice in a 8-10 quart sauce pot, bring to a rolling boil on high heat, constantly stirring. As soon as it comes to a boil, add the sugar slowly but immediately, constantly stirring to mix and dissolve.
3. Bring mixture to a rolling boil again and time exactly one minute stirring constantly; remove from heat onto hot pad.
4. Immediately ladle marmalade into prepared jars.
5. Wipe down the rims of the jars making sure there is nothing on the rim, otherwise it will not seal. Place a lid and ring on each jar.

Water bath process for 10 minutes.  Remove from water and place on dish cloth or cooling rack and let set for 24hours to ensure a proper seal. If any did not seal, you can remove lid and ring, wipe down rim and water bath again or store in freezer or place in fridge and eat within one to two weeks.

Have fun and be creative not only in your gardening, crafting and cooking, but in your canning as well!

Happy Day,
Jean