One of my coworkers at my day job brought in some Japanese plums from his backyard tree. They were so deliciously sweet, we both wanted to savor them for a while longer. So, with his help of providing the plums, I made us some jam. It is very sweet with a pop of almond extract to deepen the flavor. It’s great on biscuits, but I want to make an old fashioned jelly roll cake with it one day soon. Enjoy!

Japanese Plum Jam
6 cups Japanese plums, pitted and halved
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups water
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 packages pectin
6 cups sugar

In a large stock pot of boiling water, sterilize about 8 to 10 pint-sized jars while you prepare the jam so they are hot when you’re ready to fill them.

Fill a bowl with orange juice. As you cut and pit the plums, place them in the OJ to keep them from turning brown. Once you’ve cut them all, pulse them and the juice the food processor until they are in small chunks or even pureed, if you like.

In a Dutch oven or larger sauce pan, cook the plum mixture, water and lemon juice slowly over medium heat until boiling. Stir in the extract and ginger. Add the pectin and return to a rapid boil. Stir in the sugar quickly and boil hard for about one minute.

Remove from heat and skim off any foam from the top. Pour into hot sterilized jars, wipe the rim with a damp towel and screw lids on finger tight. Process in hot water bath for 15 minutes. Makes eight to 10 half pint jars of jam.