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Greengage Jam

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Greengage Jam

Perfectly sweet and honeyed when absolutely ripe, greengages are perhaps my all-time favourite plums. They also make a superb jam, with the bonus that they are high in pectin so there is rarely any problem with the set. You don't even need to stone them, as the stones will rise up to the top of the boiling mass of their own accord, and can be skimmed off easily.

  • Vegetarian
Preparation time:
15 minutes
Cooking time:
55 minutes
Total time:
1 hour 10 minutes 60 minutes 10 minutes
Makes:
 around 2.5kg

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg greengages
  • 1.5 kg granulated or caster sugar
  • 2 vanilla pods
  • 15g unsalted butter

Method

  1. Check over the greengages as you wash them and eat any that are so ripe they are squishy (they may spoil the keeping qualities of the jam, so you might as well). Throw out any that are damaged or mouldy. Slightly underripe fruit are fine.
  2. Put the whole greengages into a pan with 250ml water and the vanilla pods. Simmer quietly for around 30 minutes until the fruit is extremely soft. Draw off the heat and stir in the sugar. Keep on stirring until it has all dissolved, then return the pan to the heat, add the butter and bring back to the boil.
  3. Let it boil hard for about 10 minutes, by which time the stones should be rising to the surface. Lift them out with a slotted spoon. Keep on boiling the jam until setting point is reached. Skim off scum, fish out the vanilla pods (rinse, dry and bury in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar), then ladle into hot sterilised jars, seal tightly and leave to cool.

Comments and images

Average user rating 3 stars out of 5

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Radwina

Radwina 03 September 2011 15:49

There is way too much sugar in this recipe. Rather disappointed as the greengages tasted beautiful but the jam is so sickly it's inedible!

misskitty360

misskitty360 28 August 2011 20:46

I made this today and am basking in the glow of a succesful batch which has set beautifully! As you can tell, I'm a novice. My greengage tree is dripping with fruit, which when cooked, has quite a bitter taste, even if quite ripe. This recipe has made a lovely jam which has a slightly marmaladey note and a beautiful deep orange colour. Still loads more greengages so hoping to have another go as I didn't have any vanilla pods and glugged in a bit of extract instead, so will try it with the pods next time.

Sooie

Sooie 26 August 2011 16:25

Excellent recipie - one of the best jams I have made. The vanilla really makes a difference. Because Greengages are very sweet, only needed to use 500g of sugar to the 1.5 kg of Greengages and found this to be spot on!

Cash34

Cash34 24 August 2011 12:32

Just made second batch of this jam! So easy to make with perfect results both times! Second time I have used slightly less sugar as the greengages are all ripe, compared to last time when I used slightly under-ripe ones. Next year I must remember to start collecting jars earlier . . just in case we get another bumper crop!!

DevonVal

DevonVal 14 October 2010 13:03

This is the most delicious jam I have ever tasted. We planted a greengage tree last year and had a bumper crop. Having enjoyed the best of the fruit fresh, the rest went to make the jam - it's very useful that you can use slightly under ripe fruit. The addition of the vanilla takes it to another level. Very easy to make, and worth buying greengages specially to make it.

yelselb

yelselb 30 August 2009 21:01

I passed a greengage tree dripping with greengages and had to pick them. Made the jam within the hour. Set well but would add a little less sugar next time.

ajr

ajr 23 July 2009 21:16

Very good straight forward recipe for greengate jam. I managed to boil the jam for 10 to 15mins to get to setting point - there is a lot of natural pectin in greengages. It is worth noting that over cooking the jam will make the colour very dark and lose some of the flavour. I also allowed the jam to cool for 15mins before putting in warm jars. I had a very good outcome with this recipe.

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3 stars out of 5

Average user rating Based on 103 ratings

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 77.0kcal
Sugars 18.9g
Fat 0.2g
Saturated Fat 0.1g
Salt trace

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This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in September 2006