Sloe gin plum jam

We have two huge old plum trees in the garden, they blossom beautifully in spring, but all the fruit is way up too high to reach, even with a ladder. When the blue plums fall down on the path through the garden, it's usually the slugs who get to them first.
We also have a younger plum tree, a different variety, which produces sweet pink plums.
Last year many plums were ruined by the squirrel who comes to raid our hazelnuts. She also bites off the plums and just throws them on the ground.
I can see why they are called tree rats. Just look at this cute thug.

I did manage to pick about a kilo and a half of plums last week. We ate half of the juicy sweet plums, and the rest were turned into a sloe gin plum jam.
I like to add a bit of alcohol to preserves. I'm always tempted by the jars of strawberry prosecco jam or raspberry Cointreau preserve, or whisky marmalade, which typically appear in shops as gifts before Christmas. I like to give and receive them as gifts.

Sloe gin plum jam
Ingredients:
750g plums (stones removed)
750g preserving sugar
50g sloe gin
a blob of butter

Place the halved stoned plums in the medium sized pan, pour the sloe gin over the plums. Add the sugar, bring to boil, stirring all the time until the sugar dissolved. Lower the heat and simmer the plums for 10 minutes.
Bring to boil again, boil rapidly for 10 minutes, stirring regularly and skimming the scum.
Turn off the heat, add a blob of butter.
Let it rest for 10 minutes before ladling into sterilised jars.

In this recipe I used Gordon's sloe gin, but any sloe gin would do. You can't actually taste the alcohol in jam, it gives a lovely depth of flavour.

If you like this recipe, you might also like a recipe for Plum, sloe and vanilla jam.

Which preserves are you making this time of the year?