Comments on: Blackberry Winner + Plums in Honey

By: Dark Days 09-10: Week #3 Recap (East, Pacific Northwest) « (not so) Urban Hennery

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:38:23 +0000

[...] with fried potato pancakes and green beans on the side. A simple plum torte, with plus using Marisa’s recipe, finished off the meal with a smear of chunky jammy [...]

By: Dropstone Farms » Dark Days Week 3: Comfort food (part 1)

Dropstone Farms » Dark Days Week 3: Comfort food (part 1) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:39:32 +0000

[...] meat was cooking, I made Anna’s simple plum torte with home-canned, homegrown Italian prunes, canned according to Food in Jars’ recipe, in honey (local, bought at Pike Place Market). The prunes weren’t solid when they came out, so instead [...]

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:05:56 +0000

MissJubilee, my plums lightened too and are floating a bit, I don’t really think it’s a problem. I’m chocking it up to the plums releasing their liquid and shrinking a little, so while they were tightly packed before, they are now looser with more liquid to bob around in.

My skins also split, and I did pierce every plum all over, so I guess it doesn’t work very well

By: MissJubilee

MissJubilee — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:43:10 +0000

I finally found time to make these, and they look kinda spooky but good. The liquid is dark and the plums themselves look light, and they’re floating at the top of the jars. Is that normal?

Of course now that they’re preserved, I don’t want to open them right away to see how they taste. Rats, should have done a tiny jar with just one so I could sample that one. Lesson learned, I’ll do that in the future!

And I’ll also buy smaller jars and do smaller fruit in future – I had to borrow an immense pot to fit the one big quart jar I bought. The other jar I bought was a bit smaller – it held just three plums instead of six. I guess my fruit was bigger than yours, because I don’t seem to have fit as many in!

But I’m so glad to have found a place here (China) to buy canning jars. Expensive but worth it. Hm, what to can next…?

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:59:24 +0000

I love this idea. What are your thoughts on using the same honey syrup with apricots?

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:01:38 +0000

*too, ugh

By: Deena

Deena — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:21:01 +0000

I just came across a friend with an Italian Prune Plum tree. Do you know if these are good for jam as well? They don’t seem quite as tangy and flavorful as other plums, but maybe it’s different when they’re jammed (they seem good baked). The whole lack-of-bursting makes me think they probably have pretty sturdy skins, which I worry would be bothersome in jam…

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:05:21 +0000

Adrienne, the same thing happened to me. I made these last night, and the jars were all full when I took them out of the water bath. I peeked at the jars this morning, and the water level in all of them is one to two inches below the rim of the jar. They were sputtering a little last night, but I thought that was normal, so I didn’t worry to much. This is mt first canning experience:

1. What did I do wrong?
2. Can I refrigerate the fruit, or is this a total loss?

Thank you.

By: Linus

Linus — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:19:21 +0000

Oh wow I got the blackberry jam today (hand delivered by Marisa’s lovely hubby-to-be)! I think the jam and I are going to be spending some quality time together tonight. THANKS!!

By: Marisa

Marisa — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:11:37 +0000

Tree, you can definitely use the honey syrup later. You could cook it down into more of a syrup and stir it into tea, use it to sweeten yogurt or drizzle it on top of pancakes.

As far as the plums go, you can slice them up and eat them on top of a slice of cake, waffles, yogurt, ice cream or french toast. You can cook them into a dimple cake like this one: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/dimply-plum-cake/. You can cook them down into a compote. You can spear them out of the jars and eat them standing over the sink. They are versatile and delicious!