Soon it will be time to bottle plums! My Mum, Glenis, made a sterling bottling effort back in the seventies; my Mum and Dad had a few acres and part of it was filled with a range of fruit trees, after giving fruit away and swapping for other vegetables there was always a lot left to bottle for a taste of summer during the winter months.

Many of you may already have this recipe as it’s one of our most popular, we’ve seen searches coming in from all over the world at different times of the year for this recipe alone.

If you’ve got a tree laden with plums and don’t want to waste any, try this easy great tasting recipe.

How To Bottle Plums

First wash the jars, lids and seals. Pop the jars into a 100 degree C oven for half an hour and boil the lids and seals in a pot of water for five minutes. Keep the jars in the oven to keep them hot until you are ready.

Make a light syrup using 3 parts water to 1 part sugar (I used raw sugar)

Bring the sugar and water to the boil and simmer for five minutes.

Wash your plums, leave them whole and pop them into the simmering syrup. Be careful not to over cook them. Just leave them until the skins split a little then start bottling.

While the plums are hot, put them in the hot jars and cover right to the top with syrup. Use a clean cloth to wipe off any spills around the top or you won’t get a good seal.

Pop the hot seals on and screw the bands. You can grease the bands a little to help then go on.

After 12 to 24 hours the lids should have become concave which means you have successfully sealed the jars. Congratulations!  Store in a cool, dark place.

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