Two boxes of plums: what winter preserves I made from yellow plums

On Saturday, our eldest son brought us two boxes of plums, unexpectedly, without warning. Do what you want. I thought I was done with berry and fruit preserves. Well, I'll still make a couple of jars of apple jam and grape preserves, and that's it for sweet preserves. And then there was this huge amount of plums. We gave half of the small box to our grandson. My husband took the other half to work. And there's still a large box left. We need to process them urgently. The plums are ripe and won't keep for long.

What can be made from yellow plum?

The first thing I did was make jam. I also made some delicious compote and plum juice. I froze the leftovers for the winter.

Jam

I washed the plums, removed the pits, weighed them, and sprinkled them with sugar. I added 1 kg of sugar per 1 kg of plums.

I placed the saucepan with the plums on the stove, brought them to a boil, reduced the heat, and simmered for about twenty minutes. Let them cool. I added another cup of sugar because the jam was very tart, even though fresh plums are sweet. Simmered over low heat for another five minutes.

I added a little red currant to the jam, as the color was pale yellowish-green, not at all appetizing.

I also had to add sugar—the jam was a bit sour. I simmered it for another five minutes. Now the taste is just right! And the color is beautiful. The syrup turned out thick, and some of the plums didn't overcook, leaving some whole slices. I made four half-liter jars.

Compote

I made compote with whole plums and added some raspberries that I picked in the evening.

I placed a little more than half the plums in sterilized jars. I added a few raspberries, just enough to color the compote slightly and not overpower the plum flavor. I poured boiling water over the jars and covered them with lids. After 20 minutes, I drained the water, measuring the volume first.

To fill the plums, I made syrup: I added 400 grams of sugar to 1 liter of water, or 2 cups. I poured the boiling syrup into the jars and sealed them with sterile lids. I then wrapped the jars in a warm blanket to ensure the compote warmed thoroughly.

I got two 2-liter jars and a 2-liter jar. The compote looks delicious, the syrup is pink, and the plums are whole.

Plum juice

I'd never made plum juice before. My old book, "Home Preserves," has all sorts of recipes for pickles, berry and vegetable preserves, and mushrooms, all the way up to stewing. But there were no recipes for juice. So I turned to the internet for help. There are tons of interesting recipes there. All the recipes recommend boiling the plums first, then blending them.

I did it my way. I washed the plums, removed the pits, and pureed them in a blender.

I warmed it up slightly on the stove and passed it through a sieve.

I didn't have any plum pulp, so I just wasted time. We have a good, powerful blender that completely crushes the peel.

Next, I measured the volume so I knew how much sugar I needed.

I tasted the puree. It was sweet and sour, so I added half a cup of sugar to the 3 liters, then diluted it with 1 cup of water—the puree was too thick. I brought the mixture to a boil and simmered for about twenty minutes, skimming off any foam. I added more sugar to taste; I wanted the juice to be sweet. I added more water. Once I reached the desired taste and consistency, I brought the juice to a boil. I poured it into sterile liter bottles, capped them, and wrapped them in a warm blanket.

Here is the result - 3 liters of delicious plum juice with pulp.

Freezing yellow plums

The next step is freezing pitted plums. This is the easiest way to preserve them for the winter. I washed the plums, removed the pits, and placed them in small bags. Of course, it would have been better to freeze them in small containers, but I ran out of them and I was too lazy to go to the store. I ended up with six small bags.

I'll bake a plum pie in winter.

These are the blanks I made from yellow plums.