With the end of the growing season comes canning! I’ve been busy canning everything from pickles to jelly here and I have to admit that while it is a lot of work to can everything, it is so worth it to have canned goods from my garden all Winter long! Last night I made two batches of Wild Plum Jelly from wild plums my mom gave me from her tree. It turned out SO good! It was my first time every trying plum jelly and I was really pleased with the results. I was greeted with a sweet, delicious jelly when all my hard work was done! You can easily make this too, even if you are new to canning.
Return the liquid to the pan. Add pectin, stir and bring to a boil. Add sugar and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon. If you leave the foam you will end up with cloudy chunks in your jelly. Ladle hot mixture into sterilized jars and leave 1/4” headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and apply lids. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. You will get about 8 half pints!
These make great little gifts! I love the cute 4 oz size for hostess gifts or small Christmas gifts.
Printer friendly version below!
Wild Plum Jelly Recipe
Delicious jelly made from wild plums.
Ingredients
- 5 lbs wild plums washed and stems removed
- 4 Cups water
- 6 Tbsp Ball Classic Pectin or 1 3/4 oz powdered fruit pectin package
- 7 1/2 Cups sugar
Instructions
- In a large stockpot simmer plums and water until tender and broken down, about 30 minutes.
- Ladle mixture into jelly bag.
- Let stand for 30 minutes or until you have 5 1/2 cups of liquid.
- Return liquid to pan.
- Add pectin.
- Stir and bring to a boil.
- Add sugar and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.
- Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
- Ladle hot mixture into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles and wipe rims. Apply lids.
- Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.
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I am saving this recipe, it sounds delicious. I love giving homemade gifts as Christmas presents and I think I will give some jellies to family this year!
I have made grape jelly with lots os supervision. It doesn’t seem too difficult (now that I’m older) so peraps I can do it right. Its great to have homemade jelly year round.
It definitely wasn’t too difficult. Just make sure you set aside a good chunk of time to do it!
Could I do this with cherries? I like that no pitting is involved.
I’m not sure if it would work with cherries or not to be honest!
This sounds soo good – I’ve never heard of wild plums before. I’d love to have a country place with fruits and neighbors sharing, and make lots of jams and spend my time gardening and canning – wow! It isn’t the same when you have to pay top dollar for a small amount of fruit.
I want to try this, but were do I find the jelly bag? Thanks in advice.
In country of Georgia (on the border of Europe and Asia) wild plums are very popular, you won’t see a single yard without it. We have all kinds of wild plums, however most people make sauce out of it, called: Tkhemali / tke’ma’li /. The taste of sauce entirely depends on the plum ( some are sweet, some sour) , the sauce is excellent with most of the meals, especially with fried potatoes. Very easy to make and keeps the fresh taste whole winter. We usually make hundreds of bottles of it and store it for a winter, everyone loves it. As for how to make it: everyone has a different style, google it and choose. Good luck
Oh thank you so much for the tip! I will definitely need to make some with this year’s harvest! It sounds fantastic!
My son and I on a recent hunting trip to western Kansas found a thicket loaded with ripe plums. We gathered 25 lbs in about 30 minutes. I decided to try my hand at making jelly of any kind for the first time. I carefully followed the recipe except I double strained using cheesecloth. I ended up with 6 batches of jelly that is out of this world good!!
I looked at several recipes before choosing this one and it all worked exactly to plan. My hunting buddy was doubtful, but after sampling, he’s wondering how much I’m going to share with him. Can’t wait to enjoy giving these jars away to family and friends and enjoying over the winter.
I don’t have a way to weigh the picked plums. Is their another way to determine how many I need?
My jelly didn’t set up at first and I found out that it needs to be refrigerated for 2-8 hours before it will set. Might be nice to have that in the directions.
Hmm mine did not require refrigeration to set. Not sure what happened with yours!