Yasemin's Kitchen: Plum Preserves

Plum Preserves

At the peak of summer, local farmers markets are bursting with colorful fruits and vegetables. I bought two different kinds of plums. One had deep purple skin, yellowish meat inside. It was very juicy and sweet. The other kind had greenish skin and bright red meat inside. As mouth watering as it looked, it was very tart. I thought it would make great preserves, and it did indeed!

This is good with cream cheese over toast, but, you can also use it over ice cream or cakes as you would use raspberry sauce. Recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, however, depending on how tart the fruit is, you may need to add more sugar.

Ingredients:

1 lb plums
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Wash plums, remove pits and cut each one into slices. Place plums in a bowl. Pour sugar over them. Leave for about 4 hours or overnight (in the refrigerator). Plums will release their juices, forming a syrup. Place plums with the syrup in a pot. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium heat. When it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer. Remove any foam that might form on the top with a spoon. Take a small spoonful of the cooking mixture, place on a plate, let it cool and taste to see if it is sweet enough. Add sugar if necessary, stir gently. Cook until plums are translucent and the syrup thickens, about 20-30 minutes. Skins of plums will be floating in the sauce. Let the preserves cool to room temperature. Place in a food processor or a blender. Blend for a few seconds until the plum skins are blended into the sauce forming a fairly smooth texture. Pour preserves in glass jars and keep in the refrigerator.