Surprise! Plum Jam

Each year I reluctantly passed by the deep, dark, purple prune plums at my local market because I never knew exactly what to do with them.  Then I stumbled upon a recipe for 'prune plum' jam.  Surprise, surprise!  What a delightful concoction.  The ruby red, plum jam is much like strawberry jam, but with a twist.

I started with a small batch (below - about 4 half pints) but went back and bought a full peck of plums, which yielded 8 half pints (I increased the sugar to 6 cups)

4 cups (2 pounds) of prune plums, pitted and cut into pieces.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cups sugar

In a preserving pot, simmer plums and lemon juice for 10 minutes, until tender. Remove from heat and ladle them into a food mill.  Grind to separate skins from pulp. You'll end up with a ruby-red juice/pulp.

Add the sugar, and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Raise the heat to medium-high and boil the jam until it mounds when dropped onto chilled dish.

Ladle the hot jam into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes (boiling water bath).