Topic: preserving plums,ideas?

[elvis2003]

Hi all,our scrummy victoria plums are all about to ripen,anyone got any clever ideas to preserve them,apart jamming them? last year we made lovely plum and brandy sauce to go with duck,but not sure it would freeze too well,and as duck is so pricey these days we dont have it that often! Ideally a method we could freeze and then defrost to use for breakfast with greek yoghurt?
Rach

[grawrc]

Is this any good?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/plumcompote_88963
or this one from Nigella:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/cinnamon-plums-with-french-toast-recipe/index.html

[elvis2003]

thanks Gawrc! looks lovely,wonder how long it keeps for or if it freezes,one way to find out!  ;)

[pumkinlover]

I bottled lots last year- using the pressure cooker to create the seal.(US method)

[lillian]

Fruit leathers, bottled plums in syrup. Oh and as christmas is coming a plum pickle, plumy rumtopf. plum gin, plum brandy, plum wine, plum candied fruit gelee:)

[grawrc]

Plum wine is good!

[goodlife]

I've frozen plums whole..just as they are. Once thawed, they will go soft but the stones will come off easily. I eat most of my fruit with yogurt..fruit is slightly cooked and 'sauce' is thickened with potato flour to make it quite thick.

[peanuts]

I used to cut them in half, remove the stone, layer them in plastic pots, skin side down, sprinkle each layer with a little sugar as I go them,  and freeze like that.  They taste delicious when defrosted, just going a little brown, but I can put up with that when I can eating Victorias in the winter! I did lots and lots like that.

[squeezyjohn]

I'd second the plum leather idea!  It's amazing stuff.

Stone and stew the glut skins and all - you only need a splash of water to stop them burning at the beginning - the rest of the liquid comes from the plums.  Liquidise the stewed plums and return to the pan to reduce on a very low heat until the mix is quite thick.  I sweeten it with honey and add a pinch of salt and a little sunflower oil to help with the texture - but you could use sugar instead.

Then you spread the resulting paste on baking trays lined well with greaseproof paper (I oil my paper just to make sure it won't stick) - and dry either covered in the sun (fat chance of that this summer  ::)) It's safer to leave in a very low oven overnight to set in to leather that can then be cut up into squares and stored in jars to be eaten as a healthy alternative to Haribo sweets!

Cheers

Squeezy

PS - works well with apples and most other tree fruits or mixtures thereof

[realfood]

My favourite way is to preserve in alcohol -: http://www.growyourown.info/page150.html