We have wild plum trees growing all along the creek. Most years we go out and pick a heap of them, but because we had a severe late frost, we have no plums this year. I was disappointed because I had planned to have a go at making plum paste to have with cheese platters over the coming months.
I’ve been a big fan of plum paste on a cracker with a bit of cheese for a while now. I tried some of Maggie Beers’ and was hooked. I’d tried her fig paste, and quince paste too, but the plum paste is my favourite.
Luckily for me, my mother in law wandered down with a large bag of plums for me that she had picked at my Brother in laws house. I knew exactly what I was going to do with them!
Spiced Plum Paste
Author: Jo @ Country Life Experiment
Ingredients
- 1 kg plums
- 850g sugar
- 2T lemon juice
- ¼ t nutmeg
- 8 cloves
Method
- Wash the plums thoroughly, and remove any stems.
- Place in a large saucepan and heat gently until the plums collapse.
- Remove the stones. To do this I pour the whole saucepan through a sieve which drains the liquid and makes it easier to see the stones. I then remove the stones with a teaspoon, and return the remains (including the skins) to the sauce pan. You should be left with 850g of plum flesh.
- Use a stab blender to purée the mixture. Alternatively you could put the whole mixture into a food processor.
- Add the sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg, and cloves to the plum purée (how much sugar depends on how much plum puree you have - use an equal amount of sugar to plum purée).
- Gently boil the mixture, stirring regularly until the mixture resembles runny apple sauce. You can check whether it is ready by dropping a small amount onto a cold plate. It should set firmly.
- Pour into a silicone mould, or a tray lined with baking paper and allow to set. This amount will fill a lamington tin. Alternatively you can fill several smaller tins (which is what I did).
- Once set, wrap in baking paper and store in an air tight container until it is needed.
- Use a hot knife to cut into portions as needed.
Country Boy and I have to ration it, because we just love it with a little wedge of cheddar on a cracker. I foresee a few cheese platters in the near future
Thanks Jo! I stumbled across your recipe and made some end of January. I put the plum paste in muffin cases which worked out well! I linked to your recipe on my blog 🙂 https://icookedthat.blog/2020/02/18/spiced-plum-paste/
Thanks for this Jo! We absolutely love this Plum Paste. I made it it two years ago and have just managed to track down your recipe to make tomorrow. I agree with you on the suggestion of doing small gift size portions which some of friends received last time I made this. Cheers Julie
Hi, thanks for the recipe which I’ve just made with 2.7kg plums and sugar. Took ages to cook as I had so much fruit! Anyway it’s set well and I’ll have plenty to give away as gifts 🙂
My only comment is that it’s very sweet – can this work successfully with less sugar or would it not set properly?
I’m not sure it would work with less sugar. Our plums are very tart so it’s not very sweet at all. My best advice is to use the tartest plums you can find.
Hi Jo, thanks for a great recipe – I’ve heaps of plums and now I can do something different but yummy with them. Can I use a small amount of pectin as the setting agent in this recipe?
Absolutely! If you’re a bit nervous about it setting, pectin (or jam setter as it is sometimes known) will definitely help. Generally for me, I haven’t needed it, but it won’t hurt! Enjoy!
This is my second year making this as Christmas gifts. It’s a huge hit and much easier then baking and suitable for the summer cheese plates we have this time of year in Australia. My question is storage. Shelf or fridge and for how long. I would think the high sugar content and no dairy would mean at least a month on the shelf. Thoughts?
I have kept it for 6months in an airtight container. I tend to pour mine into small jars these days and then seal like jam.
I am tryig your recipe of Plum paste, it sounds so easy to do, could I please ask that you give an approx time that you would to ‘gently boil’
Susan
Hi Susan, the amount of time needed to boil the mixture really depends on a number of things. If the mixture is quite watery it will take longer than if it is thick. Sometimes it has taken an hour or two, while other times it has only been about 30 minutes. The final consistency is the most important thing. It really must be like puree apple. Test it on a cold plate. If you find that the mixture is runny or sticky, you can always boil it some more, and add some jam setter (pectin). It shouldn’t need pectin (there is plenty in the plums), but if you’re nervous it can give you peace of mind! Let me know how you go!
This is exactly what I came looking for 🙂 I’ve started already so this question is for next time if it doesn’t work…. Do you put water into the fruit when you heat them gently to let them collapse? I started without then added a little but wondered what you did – I noticed same instructions in your apricot and ginger paste (YUM! only 8 apricots this year, though… straight in the mouth of a family of 6!)
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Sunshine, I don’t add water, but it won’t hurt the paste, it will just take a little longer to set. Enjoy!
Fruit pastes are not available here in Bahrain….I made your recipe and have revolutionized the cheese platters everywhere I go! Thanks!
Glad you like it!
Hey there, I made this recipe as per the instructions and added more sugar to the amount of puree I had. It is still not set to the correct constancy. What would you reccommend I do?
Boil it a little longer is the best thing to do. If you’re nervous that it won’t set you could add some jam setter ( also known as pectin) but if you uses ripe plums it should just need to boil longer.
Hi Jo
Wondering if you may have any chestnut recipes??
Thanks, Cath
Hi Cath, I’m sorry but I’ve never done anything with chestnuts. I’d love to grow some and have a try. May have to put in a request with CB 🙂
Thank You Jo! Really enjoying the paste and keen to give other fruits ago!! Hoping that feijoas and persimmons will go a treat as pastes since these fruits are plentiful for me when in season. What are your thoughts??
I really have no idea whether they would work. I’ve only tried pear and quince pastes before. The feijoa flesh might be too creamy to work properly, but it is only a guess. My attitude is always to give it a go. If you’ve heaps of the fruit, the worst that can happen is that it doesn’t work. Pop it on the compost heap, and keep going. If it is going to work, you will need to have an acidic environment, 60% sugar by weight, and enough pectin. Feijoas don’t have a lot of pectin from memory, so you could put some apple in with them to boost the content, or just use some jam setter. Persimmon on the other hand, is high in pectin, so should work well. Good luck and let me know how they go. (what an essay!)
I made this recently and it turned out very sticky, like toffee. Did I boil too long? not long enough? or too much sugar? The taste is wonderful though.
Boil a bit longer until it sets fully.
what happenes to the whole cloves, do they just get minced as well or do you remove them?
I pull them out.
Fabulous! My daughter put me onto your recipe and after 2 batches I’ m ready to experiment with other fruits. THANKS!
No prob. I’ve also made a pear and ginger paste, and I would love to have a go at quince paste.
Is this suitable to freeze. Or do you leave it in pantry in airtight container. Thanks for your help
I wouldn’t freeze it. It does last at least 12 months in an air tight container
A friend just asked me a few days ago what she could do with all her plums…I will be directing here to that recipe!
Thanks! Hope she enjoys it!
Well that just looks yum!
I will be trying this when plum season hits here!
The list of fruit trees to plant out at the farm is getting longer and longer everyday. Plum tree STAT!! Enjoy the cheese. I have lots of wine if you need a bevie to match!!