This last four weeks or so it seems to have all been about plums! In August I received a tip from a fellow foodswapper of a stand of wild plums so I picked about 8kgs; although as I tweeted when you get home it's much better if your keys are not in the bottom of the bag of plums...Then on Monday I was offered the last pick of the Victoria plums off of a friend's tree. So Tuesday night was spent frantically halving plums as they were all pretty ripe, finishing at 1130 with a follow up cooking session on Thursday.With the wild plums I made two different chutneys and a rather spectacular jam (even if I do say so myself); the chutney is currently maturing so recipes will follow if it turns out to be good! The Victorias were made into a mincemeat, adapting a recipe from the Preserves book of the River Cottage handbook to be thyroid friendly and a yummy plum sauce that will be replacing HP on my bacon butties for the foreseeable future.
Today there will be a lot of apple related activity as I was offered apples via Streetbank from a neighbour's tree and I've offered to make apple jam and chutney for Hertford Apple Day (11th October). I made apple and rowan jelly a week ago and I love the taste but I think it may be like marmite as people either tell me they love it or hate it...
In the recipes below I've assumed that the basics of jam/chutney making are already known. If not please read a basic jam guide (particularly the bits about not putting cold stuff into hot jars and vice versa plus how to test for a set) before attempting any of these recipes.
Wylde Plum, Elder and Serendipity Berry Jam
Good on toast and is a natural flu jab!
1kgs wild plums
1.3 kgs white sugar
500 gms elderberries
500 gms of 'serendipity berries' (basically any berries that you happen to have to hand. Mine tend to have a distinctly blackberryish lean supplemented by raspberries/ loganberries /cherries/ grapes etc. Frozen berry mixtures are a good standby for if you don't have enough picked berries to hand)
1 tbsp cider vinegar
juice of a lemon
Halve the plums (after washing!) and discard any manky bits plus the stones. I normally add in about the same amount of plums from the extra to replace the manky discards. Sling into a bowl mixing with the sugar and leave in fridge for at least 2 hours (I left it overnight) to draw out the juice.
Boil up the elderberries with 50 ml of water for about 20 mins. Use a potato masher to bash them but be careful not to put on too much pressure as the seeds are really really bitter and will spoil the taste. Pass through a wide sieve pressing with the back of a spoon (gently see previous about bitter seeds). I left this to drip overnight as the elderberries taste divine and are also good against flu/colds so I want as much of the yummy goodness as possible!
Throw the plums, elderberry juice and serendipity berries into a pan with the remaining ingredients, heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved then bring up to a rolling boil. Skim the scum and test for a set at 10 mins, keep testing until ready then bottle up.
Plum Mincemeat
2 kgs plums
zest and juice of 5 large oranges
1kg scrumped (with permission) apples
500 gms dried figs
600 gms juicy raisins
100 gms cranberries
200 gms rhubarby grapefruit jam (or other citrus jam as this is one of mine)
500 gms demerara sugar
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1 grated nutmeg
200 gms chopped brazil nuts
200 ml plum brandy (I made this in 2012 but normal brandy would do)
Chop the plums any way you can get the stones out but mostly in half. Throw into a saucepan with the orange juice and cook for about 20 mins until soft. Blend until completely smooth with the cloves. If you have a spice mill powderise the cloves but I didn't so there may be some interesting clove surprises in the finished results...
Quarter the figs and remove the hard stem bit; although I think I will also chop in half widthways next time to make the results less chunky. Chop the apples as finely as you like them in mince meat. Throw in all the other ingredients except for the brandy. Give it a good mixing and put in the fridge (covered) to mature overnight (or for a day and a half in my case).
Dollop it into two large oven proof dishes (maximum surface area) and put into the oven on gas mark 1/2 /130 deg C for 2 hours, Move your shelves around to get both dishes to the bottom of the oven so you can get your clean jars in and put the oven up to gas mark 2 and sterilise your (clean) jars for half an hour. Pot up and put into the dark
jam cupboard to mature for a couple of months
Plum Ketchup
This is probably the best sauce I've tasted for putting on your sausage and it's relatively healthy...
3.5 kgs plums
300 gms dates
200 gms raisins
2 large onions (chopped)
10 garlic cloves
Large lump (about 4") of root ginger grated
1.5 tbsp coriander powder
2 teaspoons of all spice powder
Several shakes of chilli (to taste)
1.5 tbsp tumeric
1 grated nutmeg
500 gms dark muscovado sugar
Good grating of sea salt
1.75 lt cider vinegar
Wash, halve and destone the plums. Put the spices, plums, dried fruit, onions, garlic into a pan with half the vinegar. Simmer for around 40 mins then blend. Sieve the results into a pan through a wide mesh sieve. I kept blending the stuff that wouldn't go through the sieve until I was left with about 1/2 a sieves worth of stuff that just wouldn't go through. This was used as a immediate eat chunky chutney (waste not want not!).
Add the vinegar to the sieved stuff then simmer for about 40 mins until it's as thick as you'd like it to be for a pouring sauce. Ladle into hot sterilised bottles and seal (I use corks). You could put into jars if you prefer but this does mean using a spoon to decant and my lazy nature means I prefer a bottle plus I bought 56 bottles about a year ago and happened to have some left.
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