In a region where plums are abundant, Siniša Mirković from Popučak did not hesitate to make this fruit his main product. He did not turn the blue-blue fruits into the widely known plum brandy, but turned them into plum jam – a healthy and tasty product.
Plum jam: inspiration in Italy
For years, he has been engaged in agricultural production on the family farm in this Valjevo village. At first, he grew mangosteens and processed the meat of this pig breed. Their place is then taken by a herd of forty goats.
However, as he says, even that business did not pay off because it was necessary to invest a lot of money in the expansion of production and the dairy, and instead of processing it into a finished product, he had to sell the goat’s milk.
He also tried his hand at making čvarak tobacco, which brought him awards from the festival, as well as other products from numerous fairs.
“I had to reorient myself to another production. I had a piece of equipment from a dairy, so I slowly finished something, then I bought a barwort for washing fruits and vegetables, a juicer and a pasteurizer. It is the most basic and cannot be done without it.
I came up with the idea of trying to make a jam that I tried during a trip to Italy. It was the first time I saw them mixing fresh and dried plums,” says Mirković.
Siniša’s plum jam – absolutely healthy!
Jam is made from fruit grown in Valjevo villages. The main ingredients are fresh and dried plums without added sugar.
“I just make plum jam. In Koceljeva, I buy cleaned plums, first class, I bring 500 kilograms each, and I can process that amount in a week. That way I have production and regular delivery.
Plums are one of the healthiest fruits in this climate, and prunes give a special note, they are sweet enough and there is no need to add sugar. This is an absolutely healthy product that can be consumed by all generations,” says Siniša Mirković.
Every jar finds its customer
With the current production, it manages to meet the market demand. It is mostly based on sales in Valjevo with local trade chains. In the past year, he processed close to five thousand jars of this sweet product.
“A kilogram of plums was 25 and 30 dinars, but since I don’t have a refrigerator in which I could store 10 tons of plums, I currently pay 70 dinars per plum. I am planning to convert one object into a cold storage, so that I will have the possibility to store raw materials.
However, I wouldn’t be able to start this either, if it weren’t for the existing facility, city water… Otherwise, I also intend to produce rosehip jam, which I have already tried in a certain quantity, but in this case there is a problem with the supply of raw materials.
The year is difficult, but WINTER has to be made!
I’ve already raised one so far 70-acre rosehip, and this is its third year. In the restitution process, they returned seven hectares to me, so I plan to plant more rose hips on that area,” says our interlocutor.
Mirković states that he is satisfied with the current production of 500 jars of jam per week. Since there are plenty of plums in this part of Serbia, he can, as he says, increase processing. However, according to him, that plan will only be feasible once he has completed the storage chamber and acquired a larger duplicator.
Source: www.agromedia.rs
