Born in the Wrong Century

Last year a friend brought me a couple of bags of plums so I experimented with a few recipes for jam, sauce & butter… this plum butter was by far my favorite.  It’s one of those items where when you get to the bottom of the jar you grab a spatula to clean up every last bit and all utensils are licked clean.  If you can still find some small plums give this recipe a try!  This year, a big THANK YOU goes out to S&J for a bag of plums… I’m so excited to have more of this butter in my pantry

Assembled ingredients.

{Recipe} Plum Butter
(Adapted from ‘The Art of Preserving’)
Yield: 7 small jelly jars
1 orange
4 lbs plums
3-1/4 cups organic sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Using a peeler take 4 long strips of peel off of the orange being careful to not get too much of the white pith.  Juice the orange and place both the peel and juice in a large dutch oven.  Pit the plums and add them to the pot.  Stir in the sugar and cook over medium-high heat until boiling.  Reduce heat to medium and cook until the plums are tender, about 5 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat and once cool enough to handle pass the plums through a food mill to remove the skins.  Put the plum mixture back onto the heat, add the vanilla and cinnamon, and simmer for about an hour or until the butter is starting to thicken in the pan.

Ladle the butter into hot, sterile jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe the rims and seal.  Process the jars for 15 minutes (for 5k’ elevation) in a hot water bath.  Let cool and check the seals.

Hide these in the back of the pantry so they don't disappear too fast!