Plum glut

[Peter X]

As always with fruit trees, there are good and bad years, and my plum tree is having a very good 2014.

It's the fifth summer since I bought my house, and of those 2011 was a good crop and the other three years I didn't get much. This year I've picked about 20kg so far and there's much more left on the tree.

 

Anyway, no doubt other people with plum trees will like me be afflicted with more plums than they know what to do with, and in this topic I hope to offer my ideas and get some back. I've frozen some and made various plum-related cakes and preserves, but in this first post I'm talking plum jam...

 

All you need is lots of cheap/free plums, a lot of sugar, a big stockpot (you don't need a preserving pan, not worth buying in my view unless you plan to make a lot of batches) and enough empty jam jars with metal lids. Simple cookery on a big scale; these quantities are for my 5L stainless steel stockpot.

 

First pick enough plums. You've got a glut, so ignore any the insects have started on, they're not worth the effort. Just cut each plum enough to remove the stone, no need to remove the skins. Here's the pot with just over 3kg of stone-free plums and some water:

As with any jam, heat it up and simmer until the fruit is soft; that doesn't take long with plums. Then in goes 2.5kg of ordinary sugar, plums have enough pectin so you don't need jam sugar:

Stir until dissolved, that only takes a minute, then get it boiling. Meanwhile wash up enough empty jars and their lids, about 10-12 small jars should be plenty, then place the jars in a cold oven and turn it on low, about 80C; they need maybe 10 minutes in there to sterilise them. Keep boiling the jam on a high heat, stirring often and watching to make sure it doesn't boil over; that would be very messy.

 

The tricky bit is knowing when it's ready to set, which gets easier with experience; basically you put a little jam on a cold saucer, push it with your finger and if it crinkles up and doesn't quickly flow back when you withdraw your finger it's ready. Then get the lids boiling in a saucepan of water to sterilise them, get your jam jars out and turn the gas off. Having a jam funnel is a good idea, it makes the jar filling a lot easier:

Ladle carefully into each jar close to the top, aiming for just 5mm below the rim of the glass, using oven mitts to slide the hot jars along the worktop next to the pan. Drain the lids and put them on tight while the jars are hot, to reduce any risk of contamination. You may hear a lid pop occasionally as the contracting jam causes the air pressure above it to reduce, sucking the lid in; this is good. When cooled, label and store, ideally in a cool dark place, and they should keep for months or even a few years.

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

crop damsons from the towpath at Tring. super pies.

[wiltshirewonderer]

I once made the most amazing plum, rum & almond jam. Just wish I could find the recipe!

 

If you have any demijohns, plum wine is always a good way to use up a heavy harvest.

[Taslim]

As above for plumb wine. It is easy and is usualy good. Mature it for a good while.

[John V]

As above for plumb wine. It is easy and is usualy good. Mature it for a good while.

 

 

does that help you stay upright when you drink it ?

[PaulG]

Plum jam is a waste of good plums! I can speak with some authority as I lived in the Vale of Evesham, and plum picking was one form of gainful employment when I was a yoof.

IMHO Plum Jerkum is the best use of surplus plums. Recipe below is not entirely correct as you need to add some yeast to start fermentation.

 

"This be a very auld resippee. Charley bein' a well known chap from Bretforton, which be a village 4 miles from Asum.

You can make it in small lots to be put in bottulls or in big uns to be put in borrulls, like some peepul round ear do.

Wether it be in bottulls or borrulls it be sum jolly good tak and as bin nown to put some folk on thur backs and to leave um feelin far from well nex mornin.

Thee wants 3lb plums, 3lb shuggur and 6 pints watter.

First of all boil the plums in a cottun or muslin bag in the six pints of watter. Boil the plums until um be tendur, then squeeze all the joose out into the lickwid left in the pan.

Add the shuggur when lookwarm and stur until it be all gon. Then put the lickwid into a gallon demijar and top up with watter until thur be a fur inch space at the top.

This ull allow it room to work. Mak surton thee hast an airlock in the cork.

Leave fur a cuppell of wicks after it ave finished bubblin to allow the segments to settul. Then syfun it off into your bottulls.

It be best left fur at least 2 munths befor thee trys it."

Edited August 15, 2014 by PaulG

[Peter X]

As mentioned on the "Wrongbow" topic about cider a few months ago, I've dabbled in wine making even though I myself gave up drinking 25 years ago, but only really had success going down the conventional route of using grapes. My pear wine of 2012 was pronounced just about drinkable, the 2012 elderflower was horrible, but the dozen or so bottles of "Fort Neaf 2013" (local pun) from grapes was eagerly consumed. How much does it matter what yeast is used? I've always just used dried bread yeast, maybe I'd get a better flavour with something else?

 

I have a few demijohns, so if I can get hold of a suitable cotton/muslin bag for my stockpot I fancy giving PaulG's "Plum Jerkum" a go.

 

Plum jam is definitely not a waste of plums, it's lovely stuff and one of the easier jams to make, as the fruit picking and preparation is quite quick, they don't need long to soften, and it just needs plums, ordinary sugar and some water.

 

I still have some empty jam jars left, so I might have a go at making some jars of plum pie filling, I did that with apples last year because I had a lot from a friend who has an orchard of Bramleys down near Maidstone. I'm still toying with making a bigger amount of cider this year if I can get a group together to collaborate on it, if anyone's interested please read and revive Wanted's "Wrongbow" cider topic:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=50801

[PaulG]

As mentioned on the "Wrongbow" topic about cider a few months ago, I've dabbled in wine making even though I myself gave up drinking 25 years ago, but only really had success going down the conventional route of using grapes. My pear wine of 2012 was pronounced just about drinkable, the 2012 elderflower was horrible, but the dozen or so bottles of "Fort Neaf 2013" (local pun) from grapes was eagerly consumed. How much does it matter what yeast is used? I've always just used dried bread yeast, maybe I'd get a better flavour with something else?

 

I have a few demijohns, so if I can get hold of a suitable cotton/muslin bag for my stockpot I fancy giving PaulG's "Plum Jerkum" a go.

 

Plum jam is definitely not a waste of plums, it's lovely stuff and one of the easier jams to make, as the fruit picking and preparation is quite quick, they don't need long to soften, and it just needs plums, ordinary sugar and some water.

 

I still have some empty jam jars left, so I might have a go at making some jars of plum pie filling, I did that with apples last year because I had a lot from a friend who has an orchard of Bramleys down near Maidstone. I'm still toying with making a bigger amount of cider this year if I can get a group together to collaborate on it, if anyone's interested please read and revive Wanted's "Wrongbow" cider topic:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=50801

Granted, not all plum jam is a waster of plums. It does depend on the variety of plum you use. Some have very little flavour.

I could never understand why so many eggplums were grown until I discovered that most of them were used in jam making,especially for jams made from low pectin fruits like blackberries, cherries, strawberries, etc. They also added cheap bulk to the jam, of course, which benefited the jam maker's profits.

[Peter X]

Writing about cider making plans, this was the topic I meant to refer to:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=66945&page=2

I can get apples, my friend with the Bramley orchard thinks there will be a reasonable crop this year. The use of a scratter and press, probably on or near a river/canal somewhere around London or the south east, is the main resource I'm looking for.

[Peter X]

I just made some plum cake; this recipe is based upon

http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/74/recipe-for-fresh-plum-cake/

 

Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g (3.5oz) margarine
• 50g (2oz) sultanas
• 50g (2oz) soft brown sugar plus 2 tblsp for sprinkling
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tblsp golden syrup (honey could be used as an alternative)
• 225g (8oz) plums, stoned and chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.

Grease and line an 8 inch square baking tin.

Rub the flour, half the cinnamon and the margarine together.

Add the sultanas and 50g (2oz) brown sugar and stir.

Beat eggs and syrup together in a separate bowl, add plums, then stir into flour mixture.

Transfer to tin and level surface.

Mix rest of brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top of cake mixture.

Cook in centre of oven for 45-50 mins and then test. It should be risen and just firm to the touch when cooked.

Cut into squares to eat.

I made double the recipe, and we've eaten 4 of the 16 pieces already... very tasty, but unfortunately using one pound of plums hasn't made a significant impact on the glut.

[Peter X]

Plum Jerkum ... I've gone for it, using Paul G's recipe from post #6, translated from carrot-cruncher to English and adapted slightly:

 

Take 3lb de-stoned plums and 6 pints water.

Put the plums and water in a 5L stainless steel stockpot, bring to boil. Meanwhile wash up a gallon demijohn and sterilise it in oven.

When soft, ladle all the juice out through muslin and funnel into the hot demijohn, starting with liquid and leaving fruit to the end. While waiting for the last plums for one demijohn to strain above a bowl, start preparing the next one. Repeat until you get bored or run out of demijohns/airlocks. Running out of plums is not going to happen.

 

Leave to cool overnight, then nip down the corner shop for 3lb of sugar per demijohn; ignore the puzzled look on shopkeeper's face.

For each demijohn, get it to lukewarm, return liquid to pan, add 3lb sugar and two teaspoons of yeast and stir until dissolved. Then pour the liquid back into the demijohn and top up with water to 4" from the top. Put in the cork and airlock.

 

Leave 2 weeks after it finishes bubbling to allow the sediment to settle. Then syphon it off into bottles.

 

Best left for at least 2 months before use.

 

[Peter X]

Good job I became a computer analyst/programmer and not a photographer. But you can see the yeast frothing up, and the small bottle for what was left over at the end. Another time I would use maybe only 5 pints of water each time.

[Peter X]

Aaaargh, it's frothy man!

I stored my 3 demijohns of "plum jerkum" under a desk in my home office room, and a few hours later they'd all overflowed a bit and my office has a somewhat boozy aroma. Good job it has an old expendable carpet. Too late to do anything about it tonight, I've got to sleep then go off to the client's office.

My advice to anyone planning to attempt this recipe is to use 5 not 6 pints of water, as per my last post.

[Peter X]

Given the general lack of reaction to this topic, I wonder if I'm the only one who had a plum glut, though I appreciate that those of you living aboard boats will only have one if you know of a handy tree on land. But I'm persevering a bit on the basis that this forum is said to have lots more people reading it than contributing posts, and maybe some of you are too busy stoning your plums to write anything at present...

 

The glut is over, the remaining plums have rotted either on the tree or the ground, and quite a lot went to waste in the end.

But I did pick a total of about 25kg in the end, enjoyed various plum cakes along the way, and froze a lot.

 

I made a batch of seven jars of pie filling on Monday, used one of them to make a nice-looking pie, then dropped it all over the floor as I took it out of the oven. SPLAT, what a mess; the first time I've had a full-on food on floor disaster in all my years of cookery. As the Internet is already awash with recipes that haven't been properly tested, I'll leave posting that recipe until I've made another pie and eaten it.

 

I made another three demijohns of the "plum jerkum", reducing the amount of water this time to 5 pints as per my last post so as to prevent it frothing over. If I remember I'll resurrect this thread about the end of November when it's ready for my testers (my son and his friends probably) to start on the 24 litres of booze. It's a tough job but they're willing to try.

[Peter X]

A belated footnote; my son wasn't greatly impressed by the plum jerkum; he drank about half of it in the end (not all in one go!) then decided he wasn't going to bother with the rest. It makes me think that unless I can work out where I went wrong, it's not worth bothering again this year, even though I have another plum glut. But the plum jam is a winner; I've made another batch this year. I might have a go at making some non-alcoholic plum juice.

[GoodGurl]

Peter you said in a earlier post that you froze some plums, what is the best method to do this, i froze some last year (de-stoned) and when it came to thawing them out they were just a mushy mess.

[Peter X]

I don't know if there's a way to freeze them without getting a mushy mess when they're thawed, and I think this happens with most fruit.

I just don't expect to get a nice neat eating fruit, but mushy fruit is fine for some purposes such as a cake mix.

[gazza]

I looked at your topic title and thought 'that must be painful'

 

The plum cake looks ace - I will give that a try.

 

I dont, however, have a Glut of Plums

[Properjob70]

I certainly do have a glut of plums, probably 100kg worth so need urgent alcoholics' advice here!

Merryweather damsons - sweet, tasty large things & good to eat

I have some demijohns & sterilising eqpt

Edited August 30, 2015 by Properjob70

[AjW]

You're not the only one with a plumg glut. So far I've made;

 

Plum jam

Plum jam but add some cinnamon sticks

Plum jam but add some plum stone kernels

Spicy plum chutney (good recipe on the BBC food website)

Spicy plum sauce (for stir frys: Nigel Slater recipe on guardian website)

[tree monkey]

A belated footnote; my son wasn't greatly impressed by the plum jerkum; he drank about half of it in the end (not all in one go!) then decided he wasn't going to bother with the rest. It makes me think that unless I can work out where I went wrong, it's not worth bothering again this year, even though I have another plum glut. But the plum jam is a winner; I've made another batch this year. I might have a go at making some non-alcoholic plum juice.

Next time add proper wine yeast it makes a difference.

Start the fermentation on the fruit for a week before pouring into the demijohns

plus add a can of winemakers grape juice to the fermentation, it adds body to the finished product

[His Misses]

So surprised no one has mention Plum Gin or even Plum Vodka

 

3lbs of Plums - frozen ones work best

1 bottle of Gin or Vodka

4 tblspn sugar

 

Put all into a 2 ltr kilner jar. Shake daily till sugar has disolved.

Now comes the best bit taste the liquid, add more sugar to your taste, then shake daily again til sugar all disolved

Leave for a couple of months on the fruit.

Strain off and bottle. Put the fruit back into kilner jar and add cheap bottle of sherry to fruit. No need for more sugar

Leave for a month or so. Strain and bottle.

I have made bread pudding with the boozy fruit

 

I make the above with any thing I find Sloes - Blackberries - Raspberries. Apricots