I have way too many plums.
By nancyrowina
@nancyrowina (3850)
July 23, 2009 5:22am CST
I discovered the fruits dropping on my boyfriends lawn and rotting were plums so I picked as many as I could, now I have tons and have to do something with them before they all go off, so this afternoon I'm going to try and make plum chutney from a recipe I found online. I found a really good page with loads of recipes in fact both sweet and savoury, has anyone else got a plum tree in their garden and or some recipes I can use them all up in?
6 people like this
11 responses
@okkidokitokki (1736)
• United States
23 Jul 09
Hiccup has given you a great site, my only addition is to save what is nonperishable to give as gifts around Christmas time. Everyone in my family loves it when I can and make jellies and give them as gifts.
3 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
23 Jul 09
I'm going to have a good few jars of plum and apple chutney when it's done so I probably will end up giving some as gifts.
1 person likes this
@thea09 (18305)
• Greece
23 Jul 09
Hi nancyrowina, try adding them sliced with their peel still on into a basic cake mixture and then bake them. I haven't tried it with plums but it works with any other type of fruit I've tried when I have too much. Make a huge batch of cakes and freeze them or give them to friends.
Plum crumble is good, I like it best with something like cinnamon actually mixed into the crumble topping, very easy.
I don't know how to do it but have heard of plums preserved in brandy.
Please let me know what on earth you will serve plum chuteny with, I'm intrguied
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
23 Jul 09
I started the plum chutney (it's actually plum and apple chutney), it took nearly two hours just to chop all the vegetables and stone the fruit, and it's been cooking for more than an hour and still isn't thick enough yet. It has vinegar in it, I've never made chutney before so I don't know if this is normal but there's also carrots in it. Once it's done and in jars you can't eat it for a while as the vinegar tastes too strong apparently so it will be at least a month before I get to try it. I imagine it will go well with cheese and cold meat like any chutney though. I was surprised by how many savoury recipes there are for plums when I looked.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (47346)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Jul 09
I have a plum tree that keeps dropping its fruit, too. It's a young tree, so this is the first year I might actually get some fruit from it (the stuff that drops is immature) so I may be in the same boat...
I've had plum trees in other places that I've lived, and have made jam from the excess fruit. I've also used them in pies, but they get runny so you need to add cornstarch or tapioca to soak up the juices.
My mom used to make a delicious sweet and sour type soup from plums, but I don't know the recipe.
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
23 Jul 09
I might try jam next I made my first chutney today (it's still cooking), the only trouble is now I don't have enough jars. 
2 people like this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
23 Jul 09
If you know how to can, nancyrowina, you could always preserve them. My aunt used to make plum preserves and it was very tasty. A site that I use regularly is allrecipes.com when I want to find recipes. You should check it out.
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
23 Jul 09
Thanks for the tip, I want to use as many of these plums as I can as at the moment they are just falling off the tree and rotting, but there are so many it's hard to know what to do with them. I've just made a big batch of plum and apple chutney which is nearly ready, now I just have to find out how long I let it cool before I put it in the jars.
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
24 Jul 09
Well, I love plum cobbler or plum "impossible pie" but another thing that comes to mind is this. Can't pureed plums be used instead of shortening in lots of baked goods?
Have you seen this link:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060915100319AA55Zar
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
25 Jul 09
Thanks I saved the link, I will try the muffin recipe, though how I will work out the measurement for 2 jars of baby food worth of plums I don't know.
@vicki2876 (5636)
• Canada
24 Jul 09
They can be frozen too if you peel them and add a bit of sugar then they will last a long while. I love plum cobbler and the kids eat it all up too. Also so people make plum jams out of them too. I was given a garbage bag full of them and got creative last year. It was nice to have that stuff on hand when a sweet craving hit.
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
25 Jul 09
Yes I've made some chutney the next thing I want to try is jam as you can't eat chutney straight away you have to wait for the vinegar to absorb.
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
24 Jul 09
I like drinking Manhattansm, especially the way my friend Herb makes them!! Instead of putting a cherry in, he puts a plum in. Yummy!!!! So I suggest you make Manhattans, and put a plum in each one, have some friends over, and drink 'em all among the group. If that's what you end up doing, can I come over? LOL
1 person likes this
@smartboy826 (553)
• China
23 Jul 09
i also want to know.if you know,please tell me something about it
2 people like this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
23 Jul 09
There's been a few good suggestions if you come back and read the discussion.
1 person likes this
@sweet_pea (3322)
• Philippines
6 Jun 11
You can make it into jam, as I read from another discussion.
I never found any other use of plums than being eaten raw on a tree or dipped in salt.
Good for you, you have other uses for them.
Good luck on your recipes!
