Here you go. Link below has several recipes both with and without. Pectin is optional it can be made with or without. Your choice. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Plum Jam with no added pectin

Thank you for the advice and reassurance :) I tried it last night ... turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! It is one of my first jams so I was fairly happy that it worked. I made 8 cups of fruit, and only used 1 package of pectin (which is only half what they recommend) but I figured that plums are a high-pectin fruit apparently and can be used without any pectin ... so I only put enough for the cherries. It "set" really well so I guess that was ok. I used basically the recipe I posted above except only 2 cups of sugar. It is certainly sweet enough like that but I was just worried because the sugar is meant to be the preservative, and I wanted there to be enough to be safe to store. If I used 2 cups of sugar with no-sugar-needed pectin and 8 cups of fruit, how long will it last on a shelf? Regular Jams usually seems to last a couple years, would this reduced-sugar option be less? I used allspice which was really nice with the plums and cherries. Tastes more like a fall jam than a summer one but that's ok ... it will keep till then. Next time I will try vanilla, that sounds incredible too!! Liqueurs are a great idea too, I hadn't even though of that aside from the Red Wine that was in one recipe I found. Thanks! I only had ground allspice but I understand what you mean about the cloudy jam ... mine doesn't seem to be (yet) but I will definitely keep that in mind and look for whole spices that can be removed :) So if I was going to use Sugar instead of Fruit Juice, would I just substitute it 1:1 Cup? The cherries seemed to be juicy enough without much added liquid so I don't think I'd need the juice for liquid. Next up (tonight hopefully) is Raspberry - Lemon Jam. Again, high pectin fruits so will try using 8 cups of fruit and only 1 pkg of no-sugar-needed pectin with 2 cups of sugar. Raspberries are pretty juicy too, I think.

Funny - I was just thinking about this over the weekend - planning what and how much we should can this year. I made some elderberry-port wine jelly and it makes a great sauce for meat. Melt some, add some broth, thicken and serve with grilled steaks or filets (we eat a lot of venison and this flavor goes wonderfully with that). It would be good on pork, too. I've started putting up most things "plain" - beets, tomatoes, peaches, cherries, etc. so I can tweak them however I want when I open the jar. Instead of jam, I make fruit chutneys instead. Rhubarb, gooseberry, cranberry and plum so far. DH loves them with meat or on a sandwich, and if I get my once-in-a-blue-moon craving for a PB&J, I just use one of the sweeter chutneys. They work for both sweet and savory. Great with a fruit and cheese plate, too, which we have for dessert a lot in the summer. I still make some jellies and jams, but mostly for gifts, so I make small 4 oz. jars, which everyone loves for Christmas. I finally used up the applesauce from last year. We don't eat it by itself, so I use it in quick breads (any that call for a cup of vegetable oil, I substitute 1/2 cup of applesauce for 1/2 of the oil).

Ann, that looks delicious and I also love the jars. I know you don't really eat jam, but Moe loves it, so I'm sure he's happy. I will point out, though, that in a pinch (or a hurry), jam makes a nice filling for your cream cheese danish if you don't have fruit on hand or the time to make the fruit filling. Annie