Recipe: plum / blackberry jelly recipes

if you buy fruit pectin such as Certo or Sure-Jell (for low sugar jam recipes) they come with a chart of recipes for many many types of jam/jelly recipes, including those u listed. here is a really good plum jam recipe:

12 cups of halved, deseeded plums (take about half the skin off each plum)
2 tbls of lemon juice
1 package or sure-jell pectin
31/2 cups of sugar

boil water to pour over jam jar lids

boil plums and lemon juice for about 40 minutes (original recipe said 20 mins but i've had to boil for as long as and hour and 10 mins for this stage. for more watery plums it takes longer). skim off any foam that forms. after the mixture starts turning red and thickening remove a lot of the plum skins. You can leave some of them.

mix 1/4 cup of sugar with sure-jell pectin and add to the boiling plums. Add rest of sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter. keep boiling for about 20 minutes more.

pour boiling water over jam lids to sterilize.

pour jam into sterilized jam jars. i run the jars through the dishwasher rinse cycle just before im ready to use them. pull only 2 out at a time so jars are hot when you pour. fill jars leaving 1/4 inch at top. screw on the sterilized lids tightly and flip upside down for 5 minutes. turn them upright to cool. lids will make a popping sound as they get vacummed sealed by the cooling process. (Since these aren't processed, store in refrigerator after they are cooled.)

its good to let jam set for 2 weeks before using. it will be thicker by then.