I love making jams and Jellies!

In fact, I used to make jams and jellies for a bed and breakfast when Chris and I were first married. My mom taught us how to make jams and jellies when we were younger. We had a peach tree, a plum tree, and 2 apple trees. But my favorite jam was made from the wild plums that grew in the ditch next to our house.

Wild plums are small, blue, and very tart. They are about the size of large cherries, so pitting them can take a while. I think I spent about 3 hrs last night pitting these plums! ( note to self * invest in a cherry pitter**)

You don’t need much for Wild plum jam, just wild plums, a little bit of lemon juice, and sugar. Oh.. and a couple of hours of your time. :)

Wild Plums make the best jam because they are so tart! The Jam that you end up with isn’t too sweet, has that great tartness to it, is a beautiful color, and goes great with homemade biscuits! It is well worth the effort, in my opinion, and now you have some delicious jam that you can use or give as a gift to friends and family!

Wild Plum Jam

Wild plums

sugar

lemon juice ( about 1/4 c)

Use a 1:1 ratio of wild plums to sugar. The best way is to weigh them, but I measured about 6 cups of wild plums and 6 cups of sugar.

Rinse, de-stem, and pit your plums. The best way is to use a cherry pitter. Alternately you can use a sharp knife or boil the plums with some water and your lemon juice till the pits separate from the plums. You will have to mash them and pick out the pits- this takes a while, so have a podcast to listen to.

next, bring the plums and lemon juice to a boil over medium heat while stirring. If your plums are too thick, go ahead and add 1/2c-1c of water.

Once it boils, add the sugar in all at once. Keep stirring. Bring to a boil again, let it boil for about a minute ( keep stirring) then turn off the heat. ( taste at this time to make sure you have enough sugar- if you need more, add more!)

Pour into hot, clean jars and place hot, sterile lids on the jars.

These can be processed in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Now for the biscuits!

Bread is another thing that I love to bake! I am hoping to try sourdough bread before too long, but for now, here is a great biscuit recipe for you!

Homemade Biscuits

3 c Flour

1-3 Tbs sugar( depending on how sweet you like your biscuits)

2 Tbs baking powder

1 tea.salt

1 cube butter- keep it cold!

1-1&1/2c milk

Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in your COLD butter( very important to have COLD butter!) Pour milk into the mixture( use 1 cup, adding more if needed)

Do NOT OVER STIR!!!! Quick breads need as little handling as possible. If you over-mix them, you will have a very hard, flat biscuit. That being said, it takes a little bit to get the feel of how to mix- the best is to mix until the dough just sticks together.

put the dough on a lightly floured surface. pat down and cut the dough in half. Stack the halves, pat down and cut again. Stack and cut and pat down about 6-10 times. This creates nice flaky layers!

on your last stack, pat the dough until it is about 1/2” thick. use a biscuit cutter ( or a glass cup) to cut out biscuits. Place them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes, or until nice and golden. Serve with butter and Wild Plum jam.

We hope y’all enjoy these recipes! Let us know if yov’ve tried them and what you think!

~Chris & Carrie