- 8
Ingredients
- 6 to 10 pounds plums (see note)
- 2 quarts water
- 2 cups organic cane sugar
- 8 whole cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- Zest from two oranges
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare canner, jars and lids.
To prepare the light syrup, bring water to a boil in a stainless steel saucepan. Tie spices and zest into a cheesecloth. Add sugar and spices. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until needed, taking care not to boil the syrup down.
Halve plums and pit. Pack plums into hot jars within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot syrup into jar to cover plums, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot syrup. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.
Place jars in canner ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process pint jars for 20 minutes and quart jars for 25 minutes. Add 5 minutes of processing time for elevations of 1,001-3,000 feet. Add 10 minutes processing time for elevations of 3,001-6,000 feet. Add 15 minutes for elevations above 6,001 feet.
Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
Note: Plums may be blanched and peeled, but they are usually preserved unpeeled. They may be left whole or cut in half and the pit removed. Pricking whole plums does not prevent the peel from cracking, but it does help to prevent the fruit from bursting