Lovely juicy plums

A few weeks ago I went fruit picking with Naida, her sister and my little goddaughter, Amira. We went to Peterley Manor Farm in Prestwood to pick raspberries and plums. Amira loves fruit and was in her element trying to eat everything that she could find. It's very hard to tell an 18 month old that they aren't allowed to eat it yet because it hasn't been paid for.

Amira eating a plum

I got myself 600g of raspberries, 1Kg of plums and 6 carrots for the price of £4.50, bargain! It would cost me more than that just to get that quantity of raspberries in the supermarket and these are freshly picked.

Naida and I decided that we wanted to make some jam with our piles of yummy freshly picked fruit and we found the following recipe on the internet Plum and Mulled Wine Jam. We halved the recipe and added a sachet of Tate and Lyle pectin as comments on the website said that there had been issues with setting and when I have made jam in the past I have left pectin out and have also had setting problems.

It worked perfectly! This was the most successful jam making experience I have ever had and it has inspired me to make even more. Not only did it set and take no time to make, it tastes delicious. It's like Christmas in a jar, which felt a bit odd in August but will be perfect for Christmas presents (yes, I'm already thinking about that). We bought spice jars from Asda for £2 for 4 and managed to just about fill 8 jars with the quantity of jam we had. The jars aren't big but they are great for present giving. We then raided Naidas fabric and ribbon selection (I must by more) to cover the lids of our jars. Here are my finished products:

Next time I want to make little homemade labels too. This got me really inspired to make more edible gifts for Christmas so I hope all my friends and family are aware that I'll be making all your presents this year!