Bernardin Home Canning: Because You Can: Plums (2024)

FAQs

Bernardin Home Canning: Because You Can: Plums? ›

Pack plums into a hot jar to within 3/4 inch (2 cm) of top rim. Add hot liquid to cover plums to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top of jar (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if required, by adding more plums and hot liquid. Wipe jar rim removing any food residue.

If you're looking to try out new plum recipes, home canning can be a great way to preserve your raw plums and keep them sweet for months, allowing you to make a plum jam, pie, or bread beyond the seasons when this stone fruit usually is ripe.

Fill jars with hot plums and cooking liquid or syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Raw pack – Fill jars with raw plums, packing firmly. Add hot water or syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Replace the plums with almost any seasonal fruit: apricots, halved and pitted; cranberries or any summer berry; sliced apples, nectarines, peaches and pears. Canned and frozen fruit can stand in for fresh. Made this for the first time using 4 cups of blueberries and raspberries (mixed).

If you have an abundance of ripe, juicy plums, your best bet is to freeze them to enjoy later. Freezing plums is as easy as can be, and the fruit wedges will last up to six months in your freezer.

Canned plums have become hard to find; they are generally no longer on grocery store shelves. These plums are packed well, have good flavor, and serve in all recipes where canned plums are called for. They're a little expensive, but given the lack of alternatives, are a product that I'll continue to buy.

Answer: Plums may be packed in water or syrup. In a boiling water bath canner, process pints in hot or raw pack for 20 minutes or quarts for 25 minutes. In a dial gauge pressure canner, it is recommended to hot pack pints or quarts for 10 minutes at 6 pounds of pressure in hot or raw pack.

Whole plums should be stored at room temperature until ripened. Once ripe, the plums can be kept whole in a bowl in the refrigerator and covered with Glad^® Press n' Seal wrap. Or, to store cut plums, remove pits and cut fruit into chunks or wedges of desired size.

Should you wash plums before refrigerating? ›

There's no need to wash your produce when you bring it home. In fact, washing produce immediately leads to creating an environment where bacteria can thrive and can shorten the shelf-life of your produce. Instead, store unwashed fruits and vegetables until you're ready to eat them.

To easily peel plums, use a paring knife to cut a small X in the bottom of each plum. Place the plums in a pot of boiling water for about 45 seconds, then carefully remove them with a slotted spoon.

Because mason jars are air tight, they keep the produce from spoiling as quickly.

What Is the Shelf Life for Canned Fruits? The USDA recommends that for highest quality, use high-acid canned fruits within two years. From my experience with home-canned fruits, they keep their quality for two, maybe three years.

Now, just because all members of the plum family are edible, doesn't mean they're all delicious! Some, especially the smaller ones, are very sour and bitter and are best left for the wine-makers or for the birds.

Green Gage

They harbor a sweet, honey-like flavor, making them ideal for eating fresh, canning, or desserts! Green Gage plum trees are suitable for hardiness zones 5 through 9, and you can expect to harvest them in early August.

Just like fresh and frozen fruits, canned fruits are a great source of essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Pick them when the ground color changes from green to yellow, orange, red or even blue or purple (or a combination). Softness: unless you like your plums very firm, pick your plums with just a little "give" when gently pressed.

A: For best quality, it is recommended that all home-canned foods be used within a year. Most homemade jams and jellies that use a tested recipe, and have been processed in a canner for the recommended time, should retain best quality and flavor for up to that one year recommended time.