Plum Jam with Cocoa

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather your ingredients: plums, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla sugar to taste. Use firm, ripe plums—varieties whose pits come out easily work best.

2. Step 2:

   

   Sort the fruit well, discarding any questionable plums and debris. Rinse them well under running water and drain them in a colander. Then dry the plums by spreading them on a towel and patting them with another.

3. Step 3:

   

   Pit the plums and put them in the pot you'll cook the jam in. Weigh the prepped fruit.

4. Step 4:

   

   Measure out half the total sugar and cover the plums with it. Leave the fruit for a few hours to release its juice.

5. Step 5:

   

   The sugar should dissolve completely—help it along by stirring the mixture now and then. Here's how much juice my plums released.

6. Step 6:

   

   Set the pot over the heat and start cooking. Don't crank the heat up high—medium is better, or the jam can scorch.

7. Step 7:

   

   Heat the plums to a boil.

8. Step 8:

   

   While the plums come to a boil, stir the cocoa and vanilla sugar into the remaining sugar. Mix it up.

9. Step 9:

   

   Pour the cocoa-sugar mixture into the boiling jam and stir it in well.

10. Step 10:

    

    Lower the heat and cook the jam for about 40 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming the foam off the surface. Watch that it doesn't scorch!

11. Step 11:

    

    Ladle the hot finished jam into the prepared jars and close them with lids, or seal them with metal lids. Prep the jars by steaming them or heating them in a hot oven.