Preparation               

Remove the stalks, wash, dry, peel the plums, remove the cores and cut them into small pieces more or less the same so as to get uniform cooking. Place them in the in a high pot and add the sugar. Cook all on a medium flame  mixing  up often in order to dissolve sugar and plums together. Cooking should last about 80 minutes and/or according to the creamy consistency you want to reach.   

Prepare the jars which are needed for our jam by washing them well, including the rubber gaskets and lids, or if using caps, better use new ones. Actually the jars and caps should be sterilized by boiling them in water for at least 30 minutes before using them. Carefully pour the marmalade into the hot sterilized jars leaving approximately 1 cm. of space from the top of the jar. Screw the lids on tightly until hermetically sealed.

Each jar must then be turned upside down and left to cool for about 5 minutes in order to sterilize even the inner side of the caps a second time.

The next step is very important and fundamental for preserving jam over a long term. Necessary for eliminating the micro-organisms, still left in the marmalade, the air in the jar, and to prevent the jam from getting contaminated with dangerous germs, becoming inedible, the first thing to do is to be sure the jars are well closed. Then, if you don’t have a sterilizer using a high pot (at least 40 cm.), place the jars in it and fill it up with water, in order to cover the jars. Place the pot on the cooker and bring to a boil with a high flame. Once boiling put down on a medium flame and keep it boiling for at least 30 minutes. At last turn off the flame and let simmer down a few hours. Then you can remove the jars from the pot, preserve them in a dark, dry and cool place. 

UNDERNEATH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE STEP BY STEP  IN PDF FORMAT AND THE SUMMARY CARD RESERVED FOR ALL FRIENDS OF THE SITE “THE SECRETS OF ABRUZZO”.