The Tilsons

You know that wretched feeling you get when someone mentions stewed prunes? or Prune juice?  Or Prunes even?  The terrible thought of what we fondly call “plum bum”? Well - forget it all.  (Except maybe the plum bum)  Why?  Because not only are plums the easiest things to can, but they are the most amazing tasting canned fruit, next to canned cherries of course.

My recommendation is to buy them at their peak, but everyone knows that if you canned only at a fruits peak, you would have to get them in jars during their 10 minutes of peak glory, which would inevitably happen in the middle of the night, while you were letting the cat out on a trip to the bathroom, parched and groping for a glass in the cupboard.

So, you’ll have to separate them out - firm and squishy, cut in half, pits out.  I used the best ones to make prunes in the dehydrator (I have a 9 tray Excallibre - excellent dehydrator!), which is actually the easiest thing in the world.

Dehydrated Plums (Make lots, you’ll eat them all and wish you made more)

1. Slice firm ripe prune plums in half and remove the pit
2. Turn the plum halves inside out, pushing your thumb against the skin side and popping the centre out.
3. Lay the prunes out evenly spaced on the dehydrator trays and load them in.
4. Dry at 135 degrees F for between 10 and 15 hours.

With the other ripe, firm ones, we packed them into jars and filled with syrup.

Plums in Syrup

1. Prepare jars, lids and screw bands as per ush.
2. Slice firm, ripe plums in half and remove the pits
3. Assemble the syrup (13 C of water and 2 C of honey) and boil it
4. Pack the jars with raw plums.
5. Pour syrup over the plums and use a spatula to release the air pockets.
6. Top up the syrup to 1/2 inch below rim, wipe rim, place lid and screw band on, tightening to finger tip tight.
7. When you have a full canner process for 25 mins for quarts and 20 mins for pints.  (Follow all the rules!)

Plum Jam

My plum jam was the only thing in which I used actual sugar this year. (oooh… and apple jelly)  It was good, but in light of living locally, I’m trying to cut out sugar and replace it with honey or maple syrup.  You can find a plum jam recipe online or in a canning book if you really need a sugar fix;  I’m only going to share honey recipes with you this year.

This is where we came to a stand still about the sugar issue.  Justin nor I couldn’t bear to make preserves - which is like a thick sauce - with a 5:4 ratio, plums to sugar.  The plums taste sooooo good as they are, why, oh why do you need sugar in there.  What we didn’t know is if sugar is part of the preserving process or not.  Could we leave it out?  Half it?  Replace some of it with honey?  My book didn’t say…

Justin found two credible sources on the internet, one canning company in the states and one a university - Sugar is not used to preserve the preserves, it is only for flavor.  So, we put honey in instead, and much less (as well as some spices)

Plum Sauce (plum preserves)

1. Prepare jars, lids and skrew bands and per ush.
2. Slice and pit the plums (for this I used the less than firm ones) and cook them down to desired consistency in a large pot. (Sugar helps it gel - I don’t care about gelling. Try grapejuice instead of water if you care about geling)  (Add water to prevent sticking, but not a lot)
3. Add honey and spices to taste, and skim off any foam (I find that it is the sugar, for the most part, that makes the fruit foam.  ew.)
4. Remove from heat and then fill the jars, following jar filling techinques for 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe, skrew and place in canner.
5. Process for 15 minutes.

Interesting fact: When you are processing the food for 15 minutes or more it is not necessary to sterilize the jars, only to bring the lids to a near boil. (Bernardin Canning book)