This has been an interesting spring. It started with a drought and appears the drought will continue. Our plum-tree doesn’t know it though. We have a bumper crop of plums from our lone tree this year. We have been eating plums for two weeks, given plums away to our friends, taken plums to our relatives and still we have plums ripening. What to do?
I looked around at preserving plums and found quite a few interesting pickled plum recipes. Several caught my eye and had ingredients that you would expect such as cloves, bay leaves, anise, and other traditional spiced pickle type things. I especially thought the suggestion of chili peppers was really awesome. I also thought the idea of orange zest and ginger was interesting. THEN I found the alcohol preserved fruit recipes. I decided I could go one better than both and kinda combine the two methods. We will find out in about three months. I settled on combining some of the more interesting flavors with booze to preserve.
Here is what I put in my jar: Fresh plums cut in half, pits removed and used enough to fill a one quart flip top pickling jar about three-quarters full, dumped in two cups of turbinado sugar, 2 cups of Texas produced rum, 1 cup of King’s Ginger and 1/3 cup of Grand Marnier. Tossed in about 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole black pepper kernels and 1 whole dried cayenne chilli pepper. I’ll add more rum as the sugar dissolved and it all settles down. I don’t think you can add too much booze (but I do think you can add too little and not preserve anything), and more booze will be more fun in the end.
I”m thinking I got the major flavors of tart plum skins, sweet plum flesh, ginger, pepper, orange, and hot spicy goodness. Now I just have to wait… and wait.. and shake the jar up to dissolve the sugar.. and wait some more.
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