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To Can Plums

A method for canning green gages or damsons in a sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Can Plums

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe the plums clean with a soft cloth.

  2. Prepare a syrup by combining ½ cup of water and ½ cup of sugar for every 3 quarts of fruit.

  3. Pick each plum with a silver fork to prevent bursting.

Cook and can

  1. While the syrup is heating, add the plums and boil until thoroughly done.

  2. Carefully dip the plums into hot jars, fill with syrup, and cover immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Green gages or damsons
Provides the fruit, flavor and most of the body of the preserve.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and helps the syrup preserve it by drawing out water.

The step that matters

Filling hot jars and covering immediately. Hot plums and syrup in hot jars drive out air as they cool, which helps form a vacuum seal. Covering right away keeps the contents hot and limits contamination from airborne microbes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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