Plum Glut

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Plum Glut

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quixoticgeek

Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 296
Location: Canterbury

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 09 3:04 pm Post subject: Plum Glut

Managed to pick up some fruit relatively cheaply today, so now I am looking at a 2kg of strawberries and 2.5kg of plums...

Looks like another jam making session for this evening.

I am going to bottle 1kg of the plums, freeze some, and jam the rest.

Strawberry jam for the strawberries i feel...

Does anyone have interesting recipes for bottled plums, beyond the brandy version in the RC preserves book?

Thanks

Julia

VM

Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1748
Location: Lincolnshire

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 8:52 am Post subject:
You've probably done them by now - I just bottle them in syrup, sometimes with vanilla, sometimes some black peppercorns (not too many). I don't think they need much - such a rich flavour in themselves. I put mint with gooseberries and greengages but not red plums.

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 10:44 am Post subject:

we've been furiously bottling plums & damsons up here.

here's how we do it:

Fill the wide neck storage jars with raw plums till they're brimming over (they'll settle as they cook)
Put the full jars in a very low oven (120c) for about 40 minutes- until the plum skins start to split
Meanwhile make up the syrup: 8 oz of sugar for each pint of water. I find a 1 lt kilner jar needs about 1/2 to 3/4 pint of syrup. I often add a teaspoon of ginger for each 4 pints or so of syrup. If the plums are a bit watery or thin on flavour, I add a healthy teaspoon of citric acid to the syrup also. Bring the syrup to a simmer.
Take plums out of oven and pore over boiling syrup to cover all plums. Seal jars.
Leave for a couple of weeks for the flavours to develop & infuse.

Just Jane

Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 140
Location: France

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 11:22 am Post subject:
Is it possible to bottle stewed plums without a sugar syrup? Already stewed plums would take up less space in the jars than whole ones (I also prefer to destone them in case they also contain creepy crawlies) and would be ready to use. Also I don't add sugar to cooked plums (maybe a splash of alcohol) Thanks

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 12:24 pm Post subject:

probably, although I've never done it.

I stew plums with just enough added water to get the juices running at the start of the boil (a dribble, no more). I also add a bit of sugar to taste (but I guess you'd leave this out...).

So if I were to bottle the stewed plums, I'd sterilise the jars (wash, rinse, put in oven at 150c for 30 mins) and boil the lids, then put boiling stewed plums into the hot jar (taking one out of the oven at a time) and seal straight away with the hot lid before filling the next jar.

I'd be tempted to leave the alcohol out of the stewed plums during the cooking, then add a dribble on top of the plums once in the jar immediately before you put the lid on. During storage the flavours will infuse the whole jar of fruit, and the alcohol will help preserve them.
I wonder if Ammaretto would be a good choice?

Minamoo

Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 1231

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 6:10 pm Post subject:

James wrote:

So if I were to bottle the stewed plums, I'd sterilise the jars (wash, rinse, put in oven at 150c for 30 mins) and boil the lids, then put boiling stewed plums into the hot jar (taking one out of the oven at a time) and seal straight away with the hot lid before filling the next jar.

This is how I bottled my stewed bullaces two years ago and they're still fine.

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