P is for Plums…and lots of them

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plum jam || cityhippyfarmgirl

plum crumble

When a surprise box of plums comes home, there is a tiny pause then a lovely mixture of excitement and ooooh, what am I going to do with them all!

Despite my fervent wishing I still don’t have a walk in pantry, with darkened rustic wooden shelves of assorted heights to store all my preserved goodies on. On the other side of the pantry, I also don’t have a long fermenting bench where I can store all of my current fermenting goodness. What I did have was a box of plums that needed sorting asap, a crowded bench top for fermenting and a small portion of a dresser cupboard to store things in.

I also had enthusiasm, and that should never be underestimated.

So what was to be made with that of box plums?

plum mead || cityhippyfarmgirl

Plum Crumble

Plum Jam

Chilli Plum Sauce

and the most exciting of them all

Plum Honey Mead

Plum Honey Mead was such a great experiment. The picture here is of the mixture at 24 hours old. Already it’s started to bubble a little, which only increased- and almost volcanically. I was happily telling anyone that paused for longer than thirty seconds beside me, (which can be awkward at pedestrian crossings and other generally non chatty public places.) More to come on this intriguing stuff, so in the mean time how about a Chilli Plum Sauce Recipe? Dead easy and surprisingly versatile in what you can smother things with.

chilli plum sauce || cityhippyfarmgirl

Chilli Plum Sauce

8 plums washed, stoned and quartered

100g fresh chilli

1 medium brown onion

4 cloves of garlic

2 cups (420g) brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (375mls) white vinegar

2 tsp salt

Process plums, chilli, onion, garlic together in a blender and then into a pot. Add the sugar, salt and vinegar and bring to a gentle simmer. Keep it at this level until the sauce thickens. Pop into a clean glass jar and keep in the fridge, (or alternatively process and store as you would jam.)

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And to the winner of the little giveaway- Congratulations Zena from Twigs and Twine, I will be in touch shortly to get your address.

As for everyone else that took the time to comment on this post. I have to say, I feel so honoured to be a part of this online community. I know time is precious and there are thousands of incredibly interesting things to be looking at on the internet these days- so taking the time to comment here means a lot.

I also found it so interesting in hearing about what community meant to different people. I think in asking the question, it’s just confirmed things even more for me. Connectedness and a sense of belonging within a community (of any sort) is so incredibly important and so many of us within this small online space here- value that.

As I send virtual loaves of sourdough and little plates of biscuits to you all- again thank you. You all rock. 

29 thoughts on “P is for Plums…and lots of them”

  1. i don’t crave a spa, a theatre room, a cruise around anywhere or a resort lifestyle but in my next life i’d like a walk in pantry too..i really do..one with floor to ceiling shelving that’s cool in summer and where i could store all my jars of preserves and bags of onions and potatoes..i would visit often even if i didn’t need anything..

    your plum creations look good brydie..i’ll be interested to hear more about the mead..x

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  5. I am exactly the same!!! I dream of a beautiful, cool walk-in pantry with plenty of space for preserves, pickles and giant bags of flour. At the moment I don’t even HAVE a pantry… just a tiny apartment kitchen with all of my pantry items stuffed into cupboards. My preserves are currently being stored atop the fridge and in our spare room. Terrible, but… well, necessary. So let’s dream together 🙂 Back to these beautiful preserves, honey plum mead (wooo!) and the chilli plum sauce. Gorgeous!! I definitely want to try this recipe as I can imagine how versatile it’d be. Oh, and if you stopped me at the traffic lights to talk about honey mead? I would do a little excited jump and probably miss the pedestrian green light to cross altogether! Actually, can we chat more, over a cup of tea?? xx

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  7. Plum sauce looks devine and I see that it is actually quick to make. I would like to know more about plum mead btw. When I helped out at a honey extraction day we were rewarded with honey mead. It was so lovely. How exciting! I’ve never won anything before. So grateful. Thank you!!!

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  8. I love the look of that plum sauce. I think I have it’s sister bottle in my fridge. A gift tucked away in my mum’s suitcase when she last came to visit. It would be nice to reunite the bottle with a sibling 😉 can we have the recipe for that plum honey mead please? (Hopefully it’s not a trade secret and after you reveal it you have to kill us all…a blog with no dear constant readers is a bit of a dull place to be hanging about 😉 )

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  10. Just a suggestion from a lazy cook – I don’t think you need to process the plums in a blender. If they’re cooked for long enough, they should just break down by themselves. Though I guess you’d have to use a strainer to fish out the garlic and bits and bobs after that…so perhaps my shortcut isn’t really a shortcut but just blender-phobic?

    Plum crumble sounds awesome btw. Must try it some time.

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    • You are right Ms Must Be Thrifty, you don’t have to blitz the plums, but then you would have to chop the garlic, chillies and brown onion. Which ever way suits you I would say. (From one lazy cook to another :-))

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  14. I’m not a plum fan, but your pictures make everything look delicious! I am happy to have rustic pantry shelves, but they are not full of canned foods made by me – so we’re both halfway to where we want to be!

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  16. Did I ever tell you about my cellar? A cellar, in Australia! At the moment it holds four jars of preserved quinces and two bottles of wine but any summer now I will ramp up my preserving act and fill it with bottles of sunshine. Your plum bounty sounds magnificent. x

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    • Oh no you DIDN’T Alison! Really and truly?? Oh you lucky thing. You have an amazing kitchen of which I still think of and…AND a cellar.
      How about I fill your cellar, just for the novelty of me standing in a cellar with preserved goodies. Oh you lucky thing!

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