Canning Plums (Open Kettle Method)

[Patty S]

BG & I started canning plums a couple days ago (*Open Kettle method), but the kitchen got pretty sticky, real fast, so we called it good after 5 jars & I finished them up today.  
     

Since Keith doesn't like plums, we put them up in pint jars & ended up with 13 of them, from a crisper drawer full. 
     
More plums may be coming yet, but when/if they do, I think I'll put them up by myself... She knows how to do it now, so she can just make her own kitchen sticky, when she grows up!

*Open Kettle method is used for non-acidic fruits... you simmer the fruit in a sugar/water "syrup" until the skin begins to split (signifying that it's thoroughly cooked), then immediately packing the fruit into jars, adding the syrup (up to the brim of the jar), & sealing them as quickly as possible.

The Open Kettle method is NOT a recommended canning method these days. All I know is that it's been practiced for decades, without incident, so it's still good enough for me. It IS important that all jars, lids & utensils that come in contact with the food are sterilized.).

[blahblah]

Yum! Can you put them in a water bath? A new canner here just wondering, & what kind of plums were used?

[Patty S]

Yes, plums can be canned using the water bath method.  The thing I didn't like about doing it that way was that they shrunk up so much during processing, that I ended up with a half jar of plums! Because they're not cooked so much using the open kettle method, the jars remained as full when the lids sealed, as it was when I packed them. (More fruit per jar/less jars to mess with, which also means not as many of those expensive lids to buy!)

I have no idea what kind of plums these were that were given to me this year, but they weren't as sweet as the Italian plums that grew in my Mom's yard, before she sold the house & moved to a retirement community, so I used a heavy syrup for them. (5 cups water to 3¼ cups sugar.)

[blahblah]

They sure sound yummy, but the only plums around here are sand hill plums, & they are pretty small. It would take a ton to fill one jar!

[landofoz]

Jody, my parents love to make sand plum jelly.  Ugh, it's the worst experience of my life.  Getting into those pokey bushes in the middle of nowhere, stepping in piles of cow patties, fresh and warmed by the sun, oh - did I mention trespassing on farmers land to get to the back of the bushes that grew on the side of the road.  And then my parents had some funky way of straining and smashing them - it was so messy and took forever.  It's the only kind of jelly that my dad eats, though.  I can't remember what the jelly tastes like though.  Sand plums are kinda bitter though, I do remember that. 

What do you do with whole plums, Patty?  Do you just eat them or do you bake them?  I love plums (not sand plums).