My 1st attempt at Cherry Plum Jam

 We have these 2 trees that we had yet to identify. Until now. We have eaten them before and the had the inside like a plum and the skin of a cherry. For many years we thought that it was a cherry tree but at times we thought it was a mini plum tree.

In Oct, I was trying to figure out what jam recipe to use for this fruit. I googled plum recipes and it brought up in it's search - Cherry Plum Jam Recipes! I thought, could it be?, and I did some more research on cherry plums. They showed the fruit and the trees. I yelled to Mom, that I had found out, after 17 yrs of wondering, the name of the fruit! We have Cherry Plum trees! WOOHOO!!! I found the recipe that I wanted to try and here are the pics of it, I made two separate batches really late on Oct 18th and finished about 3am on the 19th and then late again on Oct 29 and finished about 2am on the 30th.

Here are the pics of my endeavors...

The cherries and sugar in the pot. With a spoon even!

The cherries get nice and hot

The cherries and sugar melting all over each other. 

I know that my spoon is privy to what is going on in there but obviously
the cherries and sugar don't want to be caught on film...

Man, did they go to pieces over each other! Now I have to permanently
separate them (remove the pits and skins)!

My 1st batch of Cherry Plum Jam. It was pretty thick. 

A close-up of my 1st batch. 

The newest addition to my mom's kitchen - the steam canner!

The 2nd batch since I forgot to get pics of the 1st batch in the steam canner. 

The finished batches!


After the 2d batch was done, I realized that I am going to measure the water exactly next time. I ended up with syrup on the 2nd batch. I will also NOT spoon out the pits and skins. I am going to do it like I did on the 1st batch - dump out the whole mess into a cheese cloth and press out the fluid that way. It has sweet tang to it, like, sweet and sour sauce but much better. Next year, I will be making TONS more! 
So, if you want some, let me know...