California Farm Plum Harvest
Our plums are starting to ripen, and all at once. Here is how we process the ones we dont eat directly from the tree or give away. We added a Japanese plum wine recipe here and published a separate recipe for Amish plum wine.
You can grow plum trees from ripe pits: scrub the pits, put in bowl of water, discard the floating ones, plant three pits in one planter hole in a large cloth planter pot with handles or in a planter bed in a sunny location.
Plant in fall, they need winter cold to germinate. They will sprout in spring. Select the most vigorous one, remove other two.
Drag planter pot around till you find a sunny location where the young plum tree flourishes.
California Farm Plum Harvest
Our plums are starting to ripen, and all at once. Here is how we process the ones we dont eat directly from the tree or give away. We added a Japanese plum wine recipe here and published a separate recipe for Amish plum wine.
You can grow plum trees from ripe pits: scrub the pits, put in bowl of water, discard the floating ones, plant three pits in one planter hole in a large cloth planter pot with handles or in a planter bed in a sunny location.
Plant in fall, they need winter cold to germinate. They will sprout in spring. Select the most vigorous one, remove other two.
Drag planter pot around till you find a sunny location where the young plum tree flourishes.
Cooking Instructions
- 1
Make fresh plum juice. Select one pound of over ripe plums, five or six plums, quarter, remove stem and pit. Cut in chunks, fill 2 cups. Add 1 Tbs lemon juice, add 1 Tsp minced fresh ginger per cup. Put cup of ice water in bottom of food processor, add ingredients, run till smooth juice. Add cup of ice cubes on top. Taste, add sugar and ice water to taste. Makes four cups. For immediate consumption.
- 2
Make plum preserves, 2 cups: 2 cups of depitted 1/4” diced plums. Taste: if over ripe, 1/2 cup sugar. If ripe, 1 cup sugar. If green, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water. Boil slowly till sugar is dissolved, then turn up heat and stir till mixture jellies, about 15 minutes. Pour into heated pint mason jar, leave 1/4” head space, close tight. Sterilize in boiling water bath 15 minutes. Set upside down to cool.
- 3
Sun drying plums: dip whole fruit in boiling water 30 seconds, check that skin is perfect, lay in sun under fly screen, dry till prune shape, 5 days.
- 4
Make Japanese plum wine in a half gallon glass container. Boil 4 cups sugar in 4 cups water, cool. Put in glass container. Add as many whole unripe plums as will fit. Add as much vodka as will fit. Store in pantry till next harvest comes in. Drain wine into bottles, plums to compost heap, use container for next years harvest. Japanese Plum wine will be 14% alcohol, amber colored, taste sweet and smell like plums.
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