Chocolate Plum Jam with Cocoa, Walnuts and Orange

This recipe happened almost by accident. This year we have more plums than usual, and with fruit trees you never really know whether the next season will be nearly as generous.

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It started with a very practical question: what could I do with all those plums so I could save at least some of them for winter?

Last year I simply baked them without any added sugar and added walnuts. They were wonderful, but this year I wanted to try something different.

Then some orange peel found its way into the pot. It came from oranges originally intended for Aperol cocktails, which is probably a much better beginning for a recipe than anything carefully planned.

Then I remembered those long winter evenings when someone suddenly wants something seriously indulgent. Something properly caloric, if we are being precise.

In moments like that I usually turn to cocoa – cocoa with honey, cocoa with tahini, or sometimes both. For some reason my taste buds are perfectly willing to interpret these combinations as chocolate.

And suddenly everything made sense: why not use the same trick with plum jam?

How I make it

Preparing the plums

I start with fully ripe plums, wash them well, remove the pits and cut them into pieces. I do not worry about making every piece exactly the same size – some of the fruit will break down naturally while it cooks.

For fruit preparation and other small kitchen jobs, a good Japanese kitchen knife set makes peeling, trimming and slicing much easier and more precise.

Letting the plums sit with the sugar

I sprinkle the prepared plums with sugar and leave them for several hours. If I have time, I leave them overnight. The fruit releases plenty of juice, so by the time I start cooking there is already a beautiful plum syrup in the pot.

The main cooking

I cook the jam over moderate heat for about two hours in total. It can be done on the stovetop or in the oven. At first I stir only occasionally, then more frequently once the fruit begins to reduce and the mixture becomes thicker.

Preparing the orange peel

I pour boiling water over the finely diced orange peel and leave it briefly before draining. This removes some of the bitterness while keeping the citrus aroma that balances the sweetness of the plums.

Adding the cocoa, walnuts and aromas

About ten minutes before the end, I spoon a little of the hot syrup into a small bowl and mix in six tablespoons of cocoa powder. I stir until it becomes completely smooth, with no cocoa lumps.

Then I add the cocoa mixture back to the plums, together with the orange peel, roughly chopped walnuts, scented geranium leaves, cinnamon and citric acid.

Into the jars

I spoon the jam into clean, dry, warmed jars while it is still very hot. Jars around 350 ml or 12 oz are a nice size for this kind of preserve – large enough to enjoy, but not so large that an open jar becomes a week-long test of self-control.

I close them tightly and turn the jars upside down while they cool.

And what does it taste like?

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