Home-made Plum Jam via the Breadmaker

Having previously done mulberry jam on the stovetop and with Master 4 asking could we make jam, I thought hey, let's give the breadmaker a whirl.  I don't like how the breadmaker makes bread, instead I ask it to make dough and I finish the bread by hand and then into the wall oven... and I intend to have a go at sourdough by hand ... but I didn't know what I thought of how it made jam so thought it time to give it a crack!

We're liking Anathoth jam (funny to say, delicious to eat!) at the moment.  It's just the good stuff and we all like it.  Probably too much.  I thought if I could 'jam-share' in the fridge, sometimes Anathoth, sometimes home made, that would be great.

Anyway...

The breadmaker made about two jars of jam - the 'jam making jars' in the smaller size that most Coles/Woolies have.  I had started to fill the smaller reclaimed jar, before I knew how much I had.  This is a good quantity for us as it means we can give one jar to the Grandparents, and have one jar for us.  That way I know we'll use it in good time.  The breadmaker takes about 1:10 to make the jam, which is a pretty good turnaround I think.  Unsupervised too.

Since I have two breadmakers (well, three, the first I bought when my eldest was a baby, so it's approx 12/13yrs old now and the other two via Gumtree because it makes a big difference to be able to do several batches of dough at a time for market day) I could actually have jam going in one breadmaker and dough for bread in the other.  After jarring the jam and letting it cool, and kneading and baking the dough, they would be ready at about the same time.

So it's not a massive quantity for jarring up a year's supply but it's a very good size quantity for having fresh jam, often and in different varieties and if you don't have many good jars.  The only criticism I have of the recipe, and admittedly they called it 'plum jelly' rather than the other recipes which were called 'jam', is that it's a very firm jam.  I hadn't used Jam Setta before when I made stove-top mulberry jam but the recipe called for it here so I followed it the first time, figuring I could alter quantities in later batches, which I think I will.  I realised after as well that I didn't list 'jam setta' on the ingredients... it's pectin, food acid and something else - most of which I think are found in fruit anyway?  I'll have to look into that more.  I still like the idea of making bulk jam on the stove and jarring it up so it can go in the cupboard... that I might do when I get my pressure canner...  incidentally the lids all did 'suck' on the bought jam jars, with this batch.

That is it. I'm aware I'm probably breaking all the 'proper jam making' etiquettes along the way here, definitely not a 'jam snob' lol but we're just learning, just starting out and when we find our jam groove, I'll be accumulating proper jars and so on along the way, nevermind the canning dream!  This jam has not received negative household reviews, no screwed up faces or less-than-charming comments and the contents continue to diminish by the day... so think that's a big 'tick' for the breadmaker plum jam.