Plum jam substitutes

Dark, tart, deeply coloured jams made from stone or bush fruit.

Best for

Linzer bars, thumbprint cookies, toast, sachertorte glaze, meat glazes, cheese boards

These are the swaps that keep the character of the recipe intact, because the thing plum jam brings is a dark winey tartness rather than simple sweetness. Blackcurrant is the closest on acidity, though it is more aromatic and slightly resinous and it stains a paler crumb purple. Damson jam is essentially plum jam made from a sharper plum, so it is nearly a like-for-like. Black cherry is rounder and sweeter with less bite, so a Linzer bar made with it tastes softer and less bracing; a squeeze of lemon juice sharpens it back up.

Prunes cooked down to a thick dark paste, sold as lekvar in Eastern European shops.

Best for

kolache, buchty, hamantaschen, filled buns, strudel, doughnuts

Where a recipe is Central European and the jam is going inside dough, this is often closer to what the original meant than any bright supermarket jam. Prunes are dried plums, so the flavour is genuinely in the family, just deeper, darker and much less acidic, with a raisin-like edge. It is also stiff, which is the real advantage: it will not run out of a kolache or split a bun open the way a loose jam does. Expect a less fruity, more caramel result, and add a teaspoon of lemon juice per half cup if you want the tartness back.

Stoned chopped plums simmered hard with sugar and lemon juice until thick, then cooled.

Best for

any recipe where plum flavour matters, Linzer tortes, fillings, glazes, toast

Twenty minutes of work and by far the best result. Stone and chop the plums, skins on for colour, and simmer with half their weight in sugar and a tablespoon of lemon juice, stirring, until a spoonful chilled on a cold plate wrinkles when you push it. Damsons and Italian prune plums give the darkest, sharpest jam; supermarket red plums give a milder, sweeter one. This is a refrigerator jam meant for immediate use and it keeps about two weeks chilled. Do not process it in jars using an untested recipe: safe canning depends on tested sugar and acid levels, so follow a tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation if you plan to shelf-store it.

Common berry jams, tart and brightly coloured, seeded or seedless.

Best for

Linzer cookies, thumbprints, jam roly-poly, cake fillings, sandwich biscuits, toast

The most likely thing to be in the fridge and a good swap in anything baked. The recipe will work the same way; what changes is that berry jams read distinctly brighter and more perfumed where plum is dark and slightly earthy, and the colour goes red rather than purple-black. Seedless is worth choosing for smooth fillings. In a savoury glaze for pork or duck, berry jam is sweeter and thinner, so add a teaspoon of soy sauce or balsamic vinegar to bring back some of the depth plum jam gave the sauce.

Golden apricot preserves, usually with soft pieces of fruit in a fairly firm set.

Best for

glazes on tarts and cakes, kolache, rugelach, sandwich cookies, ham glaze

The most useful swap when the jam is doing a structural job rather than a flavour job, because apricot preserves are typically thicker than plum jam and hold their shape in an oven. They are also the classic choice for brushing over a tart, which is exactly where a runny plum jam misbehaves. The tradeoff is obvious in appearance: the filling turns golden, which is a big visual change in a Linzer bar or a dark sachertorte. Flavour goes tangier and more floral, less winey.

A sweet-sour condiment of plums with vinegar, sugar, ginger, garlic and chilli.

Best for

pork and duck glazes, stir-fry sauces, dipping sauces, barbecue sauces, meatball glaze

Only reach for this in savoury cooking, but there it can be better than jam. It already contains the vinegar, ginger and often the chilli that you would otherwise be adding to a glaze, so a pork loin glazed with it tastes rounder and more complex than one glazed with plain jam. Because it is thinner and more acidic, reduce it for a few minutes to get a coating consistency, and taste before adding salt since most brands are quite salty. Never use it in a dessert; the garlic and vinegar are unmistakable in a sweet crumb.