The plums came ripe enough to pick on Friday of last week.
One year I let the plums go what must have been a day too long because the crows somehow got wind of fresh fruit for the pickin’s. Hearing loud and raucus caws right outside I said, “uh-oh, sounds like trouble!” And there they were, picking a plum and letting it drop to the ground, and then another, and then another. I’m guessing they were planning on having a fine plum dinner after all the picking was done. Well I got out there fast with a big container and scarfed up the plums- and let me tell you I have been crow-wary ever since!
The best time to pick is when the fruit is still firm but on the edge of softening. For eating, a soft plum is sweetest. The firmer plum is a bit sour, but this is the perfect stage for canning, baking, and for any recipe. Once they get soft they are difficult to pit and cut into pieces.
Our plums are the small dark purple “prune“ type of plums (they can be dried to make prunes), a common variety called “Stanley”. Good for canning, baked goods, drying, and jams.
Plums seem to come ripe all at once unlike other fruits making it a good idea to have some kind of plan for them. Favorite things for us are chutney and baked goods and salsa.
In the following three posts are the recipes we used this year. -jmm
not one plum on our trees this year:( had a hard frost when they were in full bloom. last year we had lots and gobbled 'em all up!
ReplyDeletethat is a bummer! we had a hard frost too but it was earlier. maybe next year you will get an extra big batch. we did this year maybe because a hailstorm took all our fruits two years ago, then last year everything was set back and we got very little. the weather is crazy!!!
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