Plum Jam (with chia seeds)

So here’s the story: I came home from London yesterday, and discovered we had plums that were about three weeks old in the fridge. I didn’t really feel like eating them whole and raw, so instead, inspired by the Norwegian movement #spisoppmaten (finish/eat up your food), I decided to make plum chia jam. It turned out wonderfully, and I added it to my porridge this morning along with some mango yogurt and cinnamon.

Jam is a great way to rescue any type of old fruit or berry, and it tastes delicious. Also, making apple, plum or berry jam is quite common in Norway at this time of year (fall). That’s because for the other six months of the year nothing grows here and in the old days, we would eat whatever weird stuff we had preserved from summer and the fall harvest.

Anyways, if you speak Norwegian, you should check out https://www.instagram.com/spisoppmaten/ or https://www.spisoppmaten.no/ for some inspiration on how to reduce food waste. Why would you want to reduce your food waste? Because by reducing your food waste, you’re also reducing your carbon footprint. And that’s like a good idea. Also, people are starving in the world and the least you can do is finish what’s on your plate or in your fridge before buying new stuff.

And before we get to the recipe, note that I will mention and share pictures of products which I have used, and I want you to know that it is unsponsored – I have not and will not recieve any form of payment for displaying the products.

SHOWTIME! Or recipe time, what have you.

Ingredients:

plums, duh. I used nine medium sized plums (’cause that’s what I had and needed to finish). You can use however many plums you’d like. They do shrink a lot, so better add a few too many.

1 tbsp chia seeds – If using significantly more or less than nine medium sized plums, adjust chia seed amount accordingly (follow your gut)

optional, but might make jam last longer: 1 tsp balsamic vinegar or lemon juice (I used a strawberry flavoured balsamico)

also optional: 1 tsp sweetener (I used maple syrup because it costs like ten times as much as regular sugar and is marketed as “healthy”, so it makes me feel good about myself – just kidding! Remember that many alternative sweeteners are still sugar, they just cost more.)

Method:

1. Remove the stones from inside the plums and dice them. By that I mean chop them into smaller pieces, but not too small, ’cause ain’t nobody got time for that.
2. Add the plums to a saucepan/pot with a lid on and turn the heat to medium/high. Stir. Once the pot is obviously hot, turn it down to medium or even medium/low and let the plums simmer. I think mine simmered for 15 or 20 minutes. Remember to put the lid on and stir frequently. I forgot to put the lid on and ended up adding lots of water at the end to compensate for all the evaporated liquid from the plums.
3. Once the plum pieces have sort of dissolved and you think it all looks yummy in your tummy, sample it and add some sweetener if needed and balsamic vinegar. You can also add the chia seeds now, or wait till you’ve transferred them to a nice little jar and stir them into the jam.
4. I think that’s it… enjoy on toast, waffles, pancakes, porridge, whatever you usually put jam on really 😉

Here are some pictures. The best ones are at the end, so like IKEA, I make you go through and look at all the stuff you don’t want and don’t need before you finally, two hours later find yourself with what you came for. Which in this case is nice pictures of jam, not potatoes and meatballs.

I hope you enjoyed this post and the pictures it contained as I did spend some time out in the cold taking them. It was really cold. I also hope you enjoy the jam and I look forward to writing to you again soon:) Have a lovely autumn weekend!