Jam too tart/sharp/sour

New Home

I've a ton of semi-wild yellow plums which are sweet enough to eat (albeit a tad on the small side, only slightly bigger than a big cherry), so I tried to make jam with them as I hate to see them rot on the ground. Unfortunately, when they are cooked (without the stone, I removed all of them!) they turn very very VERY acidic, and I'm not sure how to fix the problem. Fructose has helped a bit but it hasn't solv ed the problem, and adding sucrose (caster sugar) only makes them overly sweet without removing any of the "tartness".

Can anyone suggest anything helpful? I mean, these things are as sour as very sharp lemons, they make your mouth implode and your eyes well up....

Thanks!

seagull

It won't help with your jam, but it sounds like they're suitable for making into chutney.

Would your jam be suitable for tarts? It might work OK with pastry and a dollop of cream added.

Other option might be to try adding some other fruit in with it.

New Home

Seagull, that's a stroke of genius!!! I never thought of making a chutney with it... Only this time I might try with a small batch first, instead of starting with 4 kilos of fruit...

Must give baking a shot too, you're right, perhaps the fats in the pastry and cream might mitigate the sourness of the fruit.

As for adding other fruit, I can't think of anything fresh apart from bananas... something like dates or dried apricots, perhaps, but I can't imagine what the combination would taste like...

Thanks for the tips!

the beer revolu

New Home wrote: »

As for adding other fruit, I can't think of anything fresh apart from bananas... something like dates or dried apricots, perhaps, but I can't imagine what the combination would taste like...

Plum and apple would be nice.
Or something like black or redcurrant works well too.

New Home

Thanks TBR, must try that too.