What do you get the guy who has everything? Well, in the case of my father-in-law the answer is plum syrup. I make several different kinds of jam during the summer and added plum to my repertoire this year. When I mentioned this to him, he said fresh plum syrup was absolute favorite. Done!
I use a simple formula when making both jam and syrup - equal volume by weight fruit to sugar (2lbs fruit/2lbs sugar) and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Step 1: Wash and cut fruit into approximately 1" pieces (remove pit, stem etc)
Step 2: Add fruit, sugar and lemon juice to a large pot and stir together.
Step 3: Bring to a boil over slow heat, stirring so make sure the fruit doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Step 4: For syrup, after about 10 minutes, use a ladle to remove some of the juice and strain it into a glass jar.
Step 5: For jam, continue to cook the fruit unit it begins to thicken and gel. Ladle into jars (using a funnel makes this a lot easier). If you plan on storing your jams and syrup, check out the Ball Jar site detailed instructions.
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