We have two plum trees! After 13 years, we finally realized that we have two. The one tree in the orchard that had never fruited did this year and it’s the same kind of plum as the other. Everything is fruiting abundantly. We have so many plums the raccoons don’t need to climb. However, they are not completely ripe yet and therein lies the problem. We’ve known about the one plum tree. Every year it’s the first to flower and then fruit, and every year the fruit are completely gone before we get a ripe one. Today, for the first time in 13 years, we got a few that are almost ripe. Not enough for jam, but enough so they are enjoyable to eat.
Two weeks ago we picked a bunch, figuring that they’d be gone by this week. I put them in 3 big paper bags to try to get them to ripen. They did get soft and are now starting to rot, but they did not get sweet. No amount of sugar will turn those babies into a jam you’d like to eat. Not that I’ve ever made jam…. But what about chutney? That’s what I got when I searched under-ripe plums. The recipe was straight-forward. I got a little mixed up in the math multiplying it by 4. Oh well, there were plenty more plums on the tree. I learned that they are free-stone plums and I canned my first fruit, or anything for that matter, boiled the jars, got them to seal and everything, piece of cake.
It’s not the best chutney in the world but there sure is a lot of it.
Jeff says
Yum, the chutney is richly flavorful and the plums are now delicious. The Asian pears and the first applies are coming fast. A most bountiful year.