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Plum Marmalade
Simmer the plums in water until they become soft, and then strain them and pass the pulp through a sieve. Put in a pan over a slow fire, together with an equal quantity of powdered loaf sugar; mix the whole well together, and let it simmer for some time until it becomes of the proper consistence. Then pour it into jelly-pots, and cover the surface with powdered loaf sugar.
A plain sieved plum jam: cooked fruit pulp and an equal weight of sugar, boiled to setting point. The only real judgement call is what "proper consistence" means, and a thermometer settles it.
- Loaf sugarLoaf sugar was refined white sugar sold in a hard cone and broken or scraped down as needed; "powdered" here means crushed fine, not modern powdered/icing sugar with its cornstarch. Use ordinary granulated sugar.
- "An equal quantity"Read this as equal weight of sugar to sieved pulp, not equal volume. Weigh the pulp after sieving — 2 lb of plums gives roughly 1 lb 8 oz of pulp once skins and stones are out.
- Water for the first simmerNo amount is given. Half an inch in the bottom of the pan is enough for ripe plums; they release plenty of juice. Too much water only means a longer boil later.
- Fire strength"A slow fire" for the sugar stage means low to medium — enough to keep a lazy boil without scorching. Sieved pulp catches quickly, so stir down to the pan bottom throughout and use a heavy pan.
- Proper consistenceSetting point is 220F/105C at sea level, or when a spoonful chilled on a cold saucer wrinkles when pushed. Plums are high in pectin and acid, so this often comes in 15-25 minutes with no added pectin.
- SievingPass the softened fruit through a food mill or a nylon sieve; prolonged contact with reactive metal such as iron or aluminium can dull the colour, though stainless steel is fine. Discard skins and stones — never crush the kernels into the pulp.
- The sugar capDusting the surface with sugar was a period substitute for a seal, along with a brandied paper round. It is not a seal by current standards. Fill hot sterilised jars, then either refrigerate and use within a few weeks or process in a boiling-water bath following a current tested procedure.
- YieldRoughly 3 lb of plums plus its equal weight of sugar makes about five or six half-pint jars.
Marmalade in nineteenth-century English usage meant any fruit boiled to a thick, sieved paste — the word comes through French from Portuguese marmelada, a stiff quince paste, marmelo being the quince. Only later did it narrow in British speech to the citrus preserve. Preserving of this kind was done in households that bought sugar in loaves and put up fruit in glazed "jelly-pots" sealed with sugar and paper rather than screw-band jars, a practice that persisted well past the 1858 introduction of the Mason jar, itself an American development with limited early bearing on British households. Plums were a natural candidate: they crop heavily and briefly, they are acidic and rich in pectin, and a sieved pulp uses up fruit too soft or too small to bottle in halves.