Making Jam with Frozen Fruit

[Mare Owner]

I found yet another plum tree in our back yard (buried amongst the other trees) so the plums will keep coming for awhile. I don't have any canning supplies YET, working on getting some.

In the meantime, can I freeze the plums and make Jam later?

I can find lots of recipes online for freezing plums, but they seem to be for freezing and thawing and eating, not for thawing and jam-making. They have syrups and some cook the plums first, some don't, but all have syrup solution that I have found.

I am also finding some general jam recipes that mention frozen fruit is okay to use for jam-making, but it should be frozen whole fruits, without sugar or syrup.

How can I freeze them so they will be okay to make jam with when I am ready?

Totally new to this canning thing... :)

[red]

yes - it should work just fine

[Mare Owner]

Which way works? Frozen w/syrup or cooked and frozen w/syrup, or frozen raw w/o syrup?

[red]

I freeze them nekkid... just half and stone them and pack them in boxes. from there i would make jam with frozen fruit just as if it were fresh

[Mare Owner]

Aha, I thank you! Got a bag of plums destined for the freezer tonight! :)

[possum]

not sure what you mean when you say you havent got any canning supplies. for jam making you do not need any specialist eqipment, you do not need a pressure canner, nor do you need any specialised preserving jars, all you need are ordinary glass, re-used jars with metal lids, a big saucepan and a spoon.
jam is safe to preserve just by the process of making it and the high sugar content.

[Mare Owner]

I just bought some of the glass jars, didn't even have those...

[possum]

I just bought some of the glass jars, didn't even have those...

you bought them? erm why? sorry, i don't mean to run you down, but you don't have to buy glass jars, anything you have ever bought in a glass jar can b re-used - pickles, jams, fruit, anything, the lid itself can be re-used, all you have to do is to plonk them all in boiling water before to sterilise them.

[Mare Owner]

All the canning directions I have found on the internet (maybe I am looking in the wrong places?) have said for food safety to use the re-useable canning jars with the separate lids and bands.

So that is what I bought.

Do you mean you can use the odd glass jars (with their metal pop-top lids) that jam comes in from the supermarket?

[red]

I do

[Jandra]

I save pots from preserves and jam. The ones with the coated metal lids that will say 'click' if there's no vacuum inside. I'm not sure if you have them over there. If I am short (or might be short) I ask other people to save them for me and as a consequence I have boxes full of pots in the attic.

For canning veg and meat (only in a pressure cooker, that) I'd probably use the official jars & lids, but for jam you can reuse pots without problem.

Jandra

[possum]

as the others say jams, chutneys, pickled veg etc are fine in the re-used supermarket jars as their high sugar and/or vinegar content prevents the breeding of botulism.

[Peggy Sue]

Ooh does this mean I shouldn't have used a jar that had sour cream in it? Surely washing it, putting it in the oven then filling it with boiling jam shoud,do it?? Should I throw that jar??

[Thomzo]

As long as it was washed thoroughly and heated properly to sterilise, then it should be fine.

I sterilise my jars in the microwave to make doubly sure!

Zoe

[ina]

I don't even boil my jars - just wash them properly once with washing up liquid, and then rinse them just before use with water as hot as it comes out of the tap. Never had anything go off on me.

And you can freeze your fruit not just for making jam, but also for baking cakes, making pies etc etc. Or can the fruit as stewed fruit (for dessert) rather than jam. In that case you'll have to bring the fruit (with a little juice) to the boil, fill the jars, screw on lids, put them into a pan full of water (up to about 1cm below lids) and boil for a while - depends on size of jars how long for: small jars maybe half an hour, large jars up to one hour.