Plum Butter

Exhausted from trying a third time tonight PDT - worked fine. The end, Liz

Thanks Kelsey, as you are so attuned to clean, simple flavors in recipes that "work".

ps Which photo do you like?

I love your family photo, it is so sweet!

I did not even know about the difference in plums. Are there certain things I should ask about when I am at the market? I love the idea of making it into an asian influenced sauce. I have heated up organic tofu slowly in a water bath and taken it out of water, then topped with szechuan pepper sauce from gourmet mag. Delicious, but pepper and plum sauce would be great. Thanks all you ladies for teaching me stuff everyday.

Unless the person from whom you are buying the plums has actually used a particular variety of plum to make a jam or jelly (or knows someone well who has), you probably aren't going to get much, if any, useful information. Frankly, it seems to be hit or miss . . . . I've found that certain red plums have a high pectin content, but there are about five or six different plums that look red. Also, some plums from the same orchard can have more pectin than other plums from trees of the same variety. You can test the pectin content of any fruit (or homemade pectin, for that matter) by putting a teaspoon of cooked fruit into a small jar with a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol, shake gently, then wait about five minutes. If the fruit creates a hard gel that is a bit like a clot that you can pick up in one piece with a fork, the pectin content is high, e.g., will gel. After testing, throw it out, immediately, so someone doesn't drink or eat what's in the jar, which of course is poisonous. I should have tested for pectin before cooking down my plum mixture yesterday. There's a good Asian plum sauce recipe in the "Complete Book of Home Preserving," a cookbook published a few years ago by the Ball canning jar company. It might also be in the "Ball Blue Book." (I don't have either handy, otherwise I'd confirm.) I made some earlier this summer, but left out the hot peppers and used a lot more fresh ginger than the recipe calls for, because I don't care for peppers, but like a bit of heat, which fresh ginger provides; I also used more garlic and added a pinch of allspice. I'm going to use my failed plum butter for experimenting with other spice/flavor combinations.

I have made two batches of this now and not had that experience. The plums I used are those you see in my photo, on sale for 99 cents per pound this week at Ralph's, my local supermarket. Nothing special and readily available throughout much of the country. Sorry you had a bad experience but I stand by my recipe.

I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with the recipe, just that certain characteristics in some varieties of fruit may affect the results. That's a given though,
which may be known by people who have used plums in jam making, but may not be known by everyone here. ;o)

AJ, I think all of us who can regularly find out that there is an art to canning. There are rules but depending on the fruit, rules have to be bent to acomodate the recipe. If your plums did not work in Liz's recipe it is unfair to criticize it for that reason. She says that she tested and retested the recipe. We have to trust her just as we take that leap of faith with your recipes and everyone else's on Food52. If you changed her recipe to make it for another use that really undermines the basic recipe. If canning was a precise science there would not be as many books on the subject as there are... and I probably would not own as many as I do...always looking for the secret method!

I actually wasn't criticizing the recipe. In fact, in my second comment, I even said that there was nothing wrong with the recipe, but just wanted to share my experience, to let others know that the fact that some plums are very high in pectin may affect the results.

Actually, it was my third comment, in which I said (consistently with the other two comments), "I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with the recipe, just that certain characteristics in some varieties of fruit may affect the results." That seems like something that would interest other cooks. It certainly would interest me, if I didn't know it already. Again, though, it's not about the recipe. It's about plums, and a risk you take when using certain varieties in jams, butters, sauces, etc.

You makes the crepes and I'll bring the plum butter ;)

Let me know how you like it - thank you!

Who am I to argue ;) - enjoy, if you try it out.

Yes, it is a favorite photo of mine! Good luck with canning - this "set up" well, very quickly, and was as easy as the jams I have tried so far.

Thanks so much - it is good enough that we have eaten half a jar just with our spoons. Glad you enjoyed the photo too.

It's an old photo...Wanted to include my first canning "teachers".

Thank YOU, says the student to the teacher, for all your tutorials and support...