Plum & chocolate marmalade...

It's that time of the year again, when I'm making jams and marmalades. I've already made gooseberry & apple jam, and we were lucky enough with our two blackcurrant bushes this year, that they gave us over 2 kg of fruit, and my blackcurrant & peach jam is happily sitting on the shelf already too.

But it was finally time for my favourite sweet treat, as the plums are in season and we bought them for almost nothing (I actually did a small calculation and a jar of this beautiful marmalade costs me around €0,59 not including the electricity for the cooking part, which couldn't be that much anyway!).

If you like chocolate (and who doesn't like chocolate?!) you'll love this marmalade. Plums and chocolate is a marriage made in heaven, so this works beautifully. It's great alternative to that very popular chocolate-hazelnut spread that you can buy - and a jar of homemade marmalade also makes a fantastic present.

How to make it...

Ingredients:

- 6 kg plums (stones removed, fruit cut into quarters)
- 2 kg caster sugar (little less or little more depending on how ripe your plums are)
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 200 g dark vegan chocolate (min. 70 % cocoa)

Method:

- Place your plums in a non-stick pot, big enough to hold all your fruit + sugar. 

- Add the sugar, turn the heat to medium and cover the pot. 

- Stir the fruit from time to time to make sure they're not catching at the bottom. 

- Once the fruit is soft, take a hand held liquidizer/blender and puree your fruit - you don't have to do that, but I like my marmalade smooth and I like to "break" the plums' skin too.

- Turn the heat to low, and simmer uncovered for at least 3 hours (make sure it bubbles from time to time), so the liquid evaporates and your marmalade thickens (I'm always looking for a thick custard consistency and deep, dark colour). 

- When you're happy with the fruit and don't want to simmer it anymore, add the cocoa powder and the whole chocolate. 

- Stir well, so it all melts. If you want you can add more chocolate, but I don't like chocolate to overpower the plums, as I like that hint of sweet and sour fruit. 

- Turn the heat up and boil your marmalade rapidly for about 5 minutes (you might want to return the lid on for that, as it splashes badly and might burn you and stain everything around), make sure it reaches temperature of 105 C or more, to guarantee you that it will be nice and thick once it cools.

- Transfer your piping hot marmalade into sterilized jars and close them tightly straight away. 

- Place all the jars on the counter top, close to each other, cover well with a thick kitchen towel. 

- Leave the jars like that to cool completely. 

- Once they cold, the covers should be 'sucked in' and your jars safely sealed - I never boil the jars, nor bake them in the oven, nothing, that's my way of canning jams and marmalades, and it has never disappointed me, not yet anyway...


Smacznego!


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