This is not quite ordinary jam in its classical sense. Rather, it resembles a dessert, the same chocolate spread that our children love so much. Only this option is healthier, because it consists mainly of natural fruits, and cocoa gives the plum an excellent chocolate flavor. Try making plum jam with cocoa for the winter - the recipes we present are quite affordable in terms of ingredients and time required.
- Features of preparing plum jam with cocoa for the winter
- Requirements for main ingredients
- Preparing containers for the start of the process
- The best cooking methods
- Classic recipe
- With butter and nuts
- With hazelnuts
- With dark chocolate
- With cognac
- With vanilla
- With apples
- With citrus notes
- With agar-agar
- Multicooker recipe
- Storage rules and periods
Features of preparing plum jam with cocoa for the winter
This jam is prepared using conventional technology, but there are some subtleties that it wouldn’t hurt to know before starting work. Any variety is suitable, but late varieties give the most pronounced taste. These plums are denser and less watery, so you can add less sugar to the jam. The same applies to adding cocoa - you will need more of it for early varieties of plums than when making jam from late-ripe fruits.
If the recipe calls for the plums to be peeled, blanching will help.
Requirements for main ingredients
It is better to take plums of those varieties in which the stone comes off well. Such fruits are immediately visible - they have a deep groove along which it is good to cut the cream. If plums are like this, then they will make a great dessert with halves.
If the stone does not separate, you will have to choose a recipe with ground fruits - this is also tasty, although it does not look as attractive.
The color of the plums also gives the color of the finished product. The yellow ones will become light brown jam, while the blue ones, like Hungarian, will play with dark barrels. The color also depends to a large extent on the amount of cocoa - the more it is, the richer the color and the more chocolatey the taste.
We take fresh cocoa, in powder form and without any additives or mixtures. You can add butter, nuts and other additives to enrich the taste.
Preparing containers for the start of the process
All utensils used when preparing jam must be clean and dry. The lids are sterilized in boiling water, the jars are roasted in the oven or steamed.
It is worth paying attention that when boiling, jam can increase in volume and run away, so take a large basin or pan with plenty to spare.
The best cooking methods
Plum jam is quite specific - it has a pronounced sourness and rich taste. Therefore, not everyone likes its sharpness and brightness. But in our selection there is a recipe even for those who do not like jam at all.
Classic recipe
According to this layout, the plum jam turns out to be tender, with a characteristic sourness, because it contains half as much sugar as the weight of the fruit. But it is also less calorie.
Products per 2 kilograms of plums:
- 1 kg granulated sugar;
- a bag of vanilla sugar;
- 1 tbsp. spoon of cocoa powder (take heapingly).
Let's prepare it like this:
- Here and below, before cooking, sort out the plums, remove rotten or questionable barrels and pits, and dry them.
- Place the fruit in a bowl and add half the sugar. Let the juice come out.
- Place over low heat and cook until boiling, then add the rest of the sugar, after mixing it with vanilla and cocoa powder.
- Once it boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring to prevent burning, for 40 minutes.
- While hot, transfer to jars and roll up.
With butter and nuts
A dessert similar to Nutella pasta can be obtained when cooked with butter and nuts. Ingredients:
- 1 kg of sugar and plums;
- half a stick of butter;
- dark chocolate bar;
- a third of a glass of nuts.
Let's prepare it like this:
- Peel the plums, place in a cooking container and cover with sugar.
- After a couple of hours, the juice will appear and you can start heating. Once it boils, add chocolate and butter. Mix gently and stir occasionally while cooking.
- In total, the jam sits on the fire for about 45 minutes, after which we add the crushed nuts and boil everything together for another quarter of an hour. Done, you can put it in jars.
With hazelnuts
You can bring the taste of the delicacy closer to that of store-bought pasta by using hazelnuts instead of walnuts. Plus, you need to increase the amount of cocoa so that the chocolate flavor is clearer. Here's what you need:
- 1 kg of fruit;
- 0.5 kg sugar;
- 100 g hazelnuts;
- 5 tbsp. spoons of cocoa.
Cooking using multiple cooking technology:
- Cover the plums with sugar, put them on the fire after the liquid appears and just let them boil.
- Cool and bring to a boil again. So, boiling it a little each time, we do it several times so that the jam becomes thick. At the very end, add cocoa and nuts, crushed in a mortar or chopped by hand.
- Boil the mass and roll it in jars.
With dark chocolate
This is more of a thick jam than preserves, with a taste reminiscent of Prunes in Chocolate candies.
Need to:
- 1 kg of peeled plums;
- 0.8 kg granulated sugar;
- bar of the darkest chocolate with the maximum cocoa content.
Process:
- Grind the plums through a meat grinder and add sugar. Mix.
- Let it sit for a little while so that the mixture “floats” from the juice. We start to boil.
- Cook until the jam turns deep red. Add chocolate and bring to a boil.
- We pour into jars and seal them.
With cognac
An unusually fragrant plum jam is made with the addition of spices and cognac.
For a kilogram of plums we take:
- half a kilo of sand;
- a bag of vanillin and pectin;
- ginger to taste;
- 100 g of chocolate with a high content of cocoa beans;
- 50 g of rum or cognac.
Process:
- Cut the plums into quarters, cover with sugar and let stand overnight.
- Sprinkle with pectin.
- Place on the stove and bring to a boil.
- Cook, stirring, over low heat until the jam thickens. Finally, melt the chocolate and add to the mixture. Add also grated ginger, cognac and vanillin.
- Transfer hot into jars, close with nylon or metal lids.
With vanilla
- sugar - 1 kg;
- plums - 2 kg;
- vanillin - a couple of sachets;
- cocoa - 1.5 tbsp. spoons.
This is a ten-minute jam, it’s very simple to prepare:
- Divide the plums into halves, mix with sugar and boil after the juice comes out. Don't forget to add cocoa before cooking!
- Vanillin is added at the very end. That's it, the jam can be packaged.
With apples
Thanks to the apples in this jam, it will become even thicker and denser. Let's prepare:
- 0.6 kg plums;
- 0.7 kg sugar;
- 6 apples;
- chocolate bar;
- spices - optional, for example vanillin, ginger and cinnamon.
Process:
- Grind fruits, peeled and seeded, through a meat grinder or blender.
- Add granulated sugar and stir.
- Heat and cook until a bright color appears and the desired thickness appears. Add chocolate and spices. Place into jars. Close.
With citrus notes
Take everything one by one:
- orange;
- 1 kg sugar;
- 1 kg plums;
- 40 g cocoa powder.
Cooking:
- In a bowl, add sugar to the fruit and leave until it juices.
- Heat, add cocoa and, while it boils, remove the zest from the orange, chop finely, add to the jam. We also pour the juice squeezed out of the fruit there.
- Stir, boil until slightly thickened and pour into jars.
With agar-agar
An original mousse-like dessert is made with the addition of agar-agar. Required:
- 1 kilo each of fruit and sugar;
- 1 small a spoon of agar-agar;
- 1 glass of water;
- a little more than a century spoons of cocoa.
Process:
- Pour water into the plum and boil until soft.
- Grind with an immersion blender until smooth, add granulated sugar.
- Boil for 5 minutes, add cocoa. Add the prepared agar (there are instructions for use on the package).
- Pour the mixture into storage containers.
Multicooker recipe
The principle of cooking in a slow cooker is the same as on a regular stove. The ingredients are simple:
- a kilogram of sugar and fruit;
- one and a half tbsp. spoons of cocoa.
Cooking:
- Cut the plums into halves or quarters.
- In a saucepan, combine fruit with sugar to produce juice. Pour the juice into the slow cooker and add cocoa.
- Stir, bring to a boil, add plums.
- Place on simmer mode and cook for an hour.
- Place the finished jam in a clean container and screw it in.
Storage rules and periods
And lastly: plum preparations are not difficult to store, but jars and lids must be perfectly clean, steamed, and dried before laying out. It is better to keep jam covered with plastic lids in the refrigerator, but under metal lids the delicacy will sit perfectly in the room.