Bullace Jam Recipe (made from wild plums)
Delicious homemade bullace jam recipe, that’s so easy to make. Made from foraged wild plums (bullaces), which taste very similar to plums. The recipe makes a great jam, which is perfect for spreading on toast, pancakes or adding to breakfast porridge or using in desserts.
Why make this recipe
Making homemade bullace jam is such a rewarding experience! For one, it lets me take advantage of those wild plums I forage during my nature walks. There’s something incredibly satisfying about turning these naturally tart, often overlooked fruits into a sweet, rich jam that’s bursting with flavor. Plus, I love knowing exactly what goes into my jam—no preservatives or artificial ingredients, just pure, wholesome goodness.
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Bullace Jam Ingredients
Bullace Plums
Bullaces look like a smaller and much rounder plums and they taste very similar too.
The bullace plum, scientifically known as Prunus domestica subsp. insititia, is a wild variety of plum commonly foraged in hedgerows and woodlands across the United Kingdom and parts of Europe.
These small plum looking like fruits can vary in color, typically appearing in shades of blue, purple, or black, although some varieties may be yellow or green. You can use any of bullace varieties, even mix them together and your jam will taste slightly different every time.
Lemon Juice
If you can use a fresh juice of lemon as it will give you more authentic flavour. But if you are out of lemons and only have a concentrated lemon juice, use that instead.
The only thing you need to bear in mind, is that you’ll need to use about 1/2 of the quantity otherwise the jam might be too lemony.
Sugar
I tend to use white sugar for my jam making, but you can also mix in brown or light brown sugar in, if you like.
This will affect the flavour, but if you are thinking of turning this recipe into a seasonal treat (say with seedless raisins soaked in rum), something like about 1/3 of dark sugar will work really well. It will deepen the flavour and make the jam darker in colour.
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Additional ingredients (optional)
Spices can add a wonderful depth of flavor to homemade bullace jam and can make every batch taste slightly different. You can add 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of grounded spice to the finished jam, just before you pour it to the glasses.
- Cinnamon: Adds a warm, sweet note that complements the tartness of the bullace plums.
- Ginger: Gives the jam abit of heat and zing and sharper flavour.
- Cloves: It makes the jam quite aromatic
- Star Anise: Adds a subtle liquorice flavour that can make the jam more interesting.
The recipe batch size
For this recipe, I’ve used smaller batch size from 500 grams of fruit. You are welcome to double or triple the batch size, depending on how much bullace plums you manage to forage. The cooking time will be slightly longer and you will of course need much bigger saucepan or tall stock pot pan.
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How to make Bullace Jam at home
Clean the bullaces and remove any stalks. the stones. Add everything to a saucepan and add water (just enough to cover the bullaces).
Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and turn down to a very slow boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the fruit has soften.
Careful put the soft bullaces through a sieve. Press into the sieve to keep as much of the bullaces as possible. Discard all pips and fruit skin.
Return the bullace mixture to the saucepan. Check that you have about 500 grams of the mixture or add a little bit of fruit juice or water to make up the full amount. If you have much less than what you need, adjust the sugar (it’s basically 1 to 1 ratio).
Add the sugar, lemon juice and spices if using any
Place the saucepan on a low to medium heat and gently stir the jam until the sugar has dissolved completely.
Once the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat slightly and bring the bullace jam to a boil for around ten minutes, or until the jam starts to get thicker.
Take the saucepan off the heat and test the jam to see if reached its setting point. The way to do this is to put a small teaspoon of the jam on a cold plate and if in about five minutes the jam firms up, its ready to be potted.
If the testing bullace jam hasn’t firmed up in 5 minutes on the plate, put the whole saucepan back onto the medium heat and continue boiling for another 5 minutes. Repeat the test and pot up when ready.
Pour the bullace jam into clean and sterilised jam jars and seal immediately with clean lids. Leave to cool down on a kitchen counter and store in a dark cupboard for up 12 months.
How long will homemade Bullace Jam last?
Providing that you’ve sealed the jam jars correctly with a good seal and there is no more than about 1 cm gap between the seal and the jam level, your jam, should last a minimum of 12 months.
I’ve had some of mine jams for more than 12 months and they were still fine, but I’d not really recommend it, just in case they start to go off.
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How should you store your Bullace Jam?
I keep my filled jam jars in dark cupboard in the kitchen, which is close to a cold wall. So somewhere cold (ish) and constant temperature is perfect.
Once you open your jam jar, keep it in the fridge and use within 2-3 weeks (maximum 4 weeks, but keep an eye on any developing mould).
Bullace Jam (Easy Recipe)
Equipment
- saucepan medium size
- 2 jam jars
- sieve
Ingredients
- 500 grams bullaces plums 1 pound
- 100 ml water just enough to cover the bullaces
- 500 grams sugar white or jam making sugar 1 pound
- 1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed optional
- 1/2 lemon juice
Instructions
- Clean the bullaces and remove any stalks. the stones. Add everything to a saucepan and add water (just enough to cover the bullaces).
- Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and turn down to a very slow boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the fruit has soften.
- Careful put the soft bullaces through a sieve. Press into the sieve to keep as much of the bullaces as possible. Discard all pips and fruit skin.
- Return the bullace mixture to the saucepan. Check that you have about 500 grams of the mixture or add a little bit of fruit juice or water to make up the full amount. If you have much less than what you need, adjust the sugar (it's basically 1 to 1 ratio).
- Add the sugar, lemon juice and spices if using any
- Place the saucepan on a low to medium heat and gently stir the jam until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat slightly and bring the bullace jam to a boil for around ten minutes, or until the jam starts to get thicker.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and test the jam to see if reached its setting point. The way to do this is to put a small teaspoon of the jam on a cold plate and if in about five minutes the jam firms up, its ready to be potted.
- If the testing bullace jam hasn't firmed up in 5 minutes on the plate, put the whole saucepan back onto the medium heat and continue boiling for another 5 minutes. Repeat the test and pot up when ready.
- Pour the bullace jam into clean and sterilised jam jars and seal immediately with clean lids. Leave to cool down on a kitchen counter and store in a dark cupboard for up 12 months.
This blog post was originally written on 25 January 2025 and last updated on 25 January 2025
