Hee hee, i made up a recipe.

Well hello there! I am feeling a little better today, i think the worst of it is over. I still feel weak and a bit sick but i am definitely on the mend. Phew.

We were at a wedding yesterday, which was lovely. Oxford is really beautiful and the college we were staying at (and where the reception was held) was very grand and a little bit like Hogwarts. A good day was had by all.

We drove back this afternoon (after spending the morning punting down the river in the sunshine) and i finally made use of the plums my dad gave me. I made plum jam and it is yummy. I did a bit of research and looked at quite a few recipes and then made up my own. And it is this:

Anna's Plum Jam

1.Weigh the plums.

2. Weigh out an equal quantity of sugar. You should probably use caster sugar as it's the quickest to dissolve. I however did not have enough so i used a mixture of caster, granulated and some soft brown, and it worked really well. At this point put a small plate in the freezer so you can test when the jam is ready later (see 'setting point' below).

3. Put the (whole) plums into a large pan with some water ( I had 650g of plums so i put in about 100ml of water, you may need more or less depending on how may plums you have).

4. Bring the plums to the boil and boil until they are soft and squidgy. Take off the heat and pass the plum mush through a sieve (you do not have to do this, but it's the easiest way to get the stones out. Plus i don't like the skin. If you do like your jam chunky you could de-stone them first and skip this step all together, it's up to you).

5. Put the sieved mixture back into the pan and add the sugar. Mix a bit and them put back on the hob. Bring the mixture up to a rolling boil and boil until it reaches 'setting point'. ('setting point' can be tested by taking a teaspoon of plum mixture and smearing it onto the small plate which has been taken out of the freezer. Leave it for 20 seconds or so to cool and then run your finger up through it. If it wrinkles it is ready). For me the jam boiled for about 10-15 minutes before it was ready, but it depends on your hob and pan. I would test it first after 10 minutes and then keep testing it every 5 minutes after that until it is at setting point.

6. Take the mixture off the heat and put into sterilized jars. You are done!

It really is very easy and it came out so really well. I was worried about it setting and about using all the different types of sugar but i got four lovely deep red jars of very plummy jam. I tried a bit that was left in the pan and it was very tasty, slightly tart and full of flavour. Do you make jam? Do you think you'd give my recipe a go? You'll be surprised at how simple it is, i promise!