„Mirabelle“ means „wonderfully beautiful“. A really quick recipe for a delicious jam

An unexpected visit: Freshly harvested mirabelle plums, “free delivery”.

“Here. These are for you. We have far too many this year, and my mother can’t keep up with cooking and preserving them.” I reach out for them immediately.

Our plumber, a proven craftsman and generally a competent man of our trust, stands in front of our door With a bucket of freshly picked mirabelles, filled to the brim. Together with his big family, he lives on an old farm with many animals, and – of course – with a huge orchard. And indeed, this orchard is very impressing. Old varieties. Sustainably managed and full of respect for nature and the environment. This year, the fruit harvest is particularly rich for him. It was immediately clear to us what was on our agenda, in short, what to do right now. Let’s get to the cooking pot!

The mirabelle plum. A beautiful fruit

The mirabelle plum is certainly one of the fruits with a most beautiful name. The melodious word “mirabelle” melts on the tongue, as do the fully ripe spherical fruits themselves. In fact, “Mira-bella” means “beautiful”. The small yellowish, very juicy fruits are a subspecies of plums. They have a fine and delicious honey scent already when they are still at the branch, and they taste very sweet.

The stone fruit originates from the Near East, and has been widespread in Germany since about 1900. In fact, it is still not quite clear how this plum subspecies originated at all. However, it is assumed that it originated from a cross between plum and cherry plum or plum and sloe. In short, a beauty with a mysterious past, so to speak.

Mirabelle plums are excellent for preserving, they taste great as compote or jam. An “old” fruit with a wonderful aroma. Over the last few years, however, it seems to have fallen somewhat into oblivion. In fact, our plumber is the only Mirabelle plum tree owner we know. And we actually know quite a few (hobby) orchard gardeners. It’s harvest time right now, and there are currently beautiful golden fruits on the market, aromatic and not yet too soft. With a fine tender skin. Perfect.

And we didn’t even have to go to the market, but had the fruit delivered to our front door, so to speak. For our plumber, we had some little break with a cup of coffee, and for us it meant: „So, let’s get to work. Mirabelle jam is really delicious. But even tastier is a combination…., namely

Mirabelle apple jam

How is this done? Quite simple. Here is the recipe (based on 1 kg of total fruit):

What do you need?

300 g apples, peeled and without core
700 g mirabelle plums, without stone
1 kg preserving sugar, 1: 1, and
1-2 cinnamon sticks, 1 vanilla pod, and 1 lemon, i.e. the juice of it

The proportion of mirabelle plums to apples? All according to taste. We decided for 7 parts mirabelle plums to 3 parts apples, because we think, here, the mirabelle plum should be clearly in the foreground. By the way, it is not neccessary to go for special preserving sugar. You can also work with “normal” household sugar here.

Here’s how to proceed

Peel the apples, remove the casing and cut into very small pieces. If necessary, sprinkle with lemon juice so that the flesh does not darken if you work too slowly. Blanch and remove the stones from the mirabelle plums. Place both types of fruit in a large pot and heat while stirring constantly.

When the fruit mass begins to simmer and the apples are soft, mash everything well, or crush with a hand blender.

Now add the cinnamon sticks and, if desired, the vanilla beans, that are to be cut lengthwise. After the addition of the sugar, let it „draw“. That means, let the aroma draw into our fruit mass, and let the sugar dissolve. Don’t forget the constant stirring.

Then bring to the boil briefly, until the jam begins to gel, and remove from the heat.

Fill into the hot rinsed and well dried glasses. After filling and closing, the glasses can be turned upside down for a short time. Let them cool down… sneak around, and then open a glass directly. Enjoy!