Cherry Plum & Lavender Jam

I remember learning how to make jam by watching my mum as a child. I clearly recall one year my Dad had picked all the ripe plums off our enormous tree and brought them to her to make jam. It was 40 degrees in the middle of a Victorian heatwave and the last thing Mum wanted to do was hover over a hot stove. Being  a Pom (that's a Brit for those of you that don't know) she always wilted in the heat, so she popped on her swimmers and that's how she made the jam. I can still picture her in her red costume standing in our kitchen,making it.

My mum passed away in November, and I flew down to Tasmania for a week to keep my Dad company over Christmas. We went to visit Bridestowe Lavender Farm and I picked up some culinary lavender as I hadn't got around to replacing my lavender bushes yet. When the cherry plums were ripe last week I decided to pair them together to make jam - lavender adds a really lovely floral fragrance and taste to sweets, don't be afraid to try it! It is important you use lavender that has not been sprayed, so either grow some of your on or purchase the Culinary kind.

Ingredients:
1 kilo cherry plums, pitted
1 kilo caster sugar
2 lemons
1 tablespoon lavender

Method
Sterilise your jars and place a couple of teaplates in the fridge before you begin.

1. Place the plums and sugar in  a squeaky clean heavy based saucepan. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the pan. Add the lemon peel to the mixture (this helps the jam set, you will remove it later).

2. Stir the pan well, and bring the mixture to a boil, then quickly turn to a simmer, stirring often to prevent burning. Add the lavender and keep cooking until the fruit is very soft, and falling apart.

3.You can use a slotted spoon to skim scum off the top for a clear jam. To test if the jam is set take one of your plates from the fridge and drop a teaspoon of jam onto it. Give it  a minute to cool, and tip the plate to the side. If it is set the jam shouldn't run down the plate but stay in a blob.

4. Remove the lemon peel, and pour the hot jam into your sterilised jars, pop the lid on and allow to cool. To help the lids seal better, once the lid is on turn the jar upside down for five minutes, and then right side up, it heats the lid and as it cools brings it down. Any opened jam should be stored in the fridge, but in a cool dark cupboard unopened the jam should keep for at least six months.

Vegan Milk Jam

A little while ago a friend was getting married, and as we cooked up a storm for her wedding, she introduced me to "milk jam" which is basically a kind of caramel. Thing is, dairy and I do not agree very well, and I started to think about how I could veganise it. So I started off with soy...disaster! It basically tasted like soap. But with sugar. Ick. I toyed with the idea of almond milk but it's expensive, and I didn't really want to make almond milk from scratch and then make the jam, especially if it didn't work out. What to do...? Searching through the cupboards, I happened upon a tin of coconut cream. And so a fantastic little vegan caramel was born...

Vegan Milk Jam
equal parts brown sugar and coconut cream

Put in heavy bottom saucepan sugar and coconut cream. It's really important to use brown sugar in this one, the high fat content of the cream prevents deep caramelisation of the sugar if yuo use white. Bring to a simmer stirring all the time. Once it reaches simmer, immediately put to lowest heat setting, and leave for an hour, stirring occasionally. You'll know it is ready when you see it has thickened and become like a thick sauce - it will thicken more once cool. Put it into a jar, and use as a spread, tart filling, dollop on ice cream.... I used them in some gluten free tart shells I made as you can see above - and they were YUMMY!