What to do with plums?

Scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the letter P, then Plums and you will some recipes. I posted a recipe for Plum cake a few years ago and it became really popular!

Snap Shirley ?

I was just about to mention your cake.... And I don't Like cooked plums
Love your cake though

Wow. Just looked it up. See what you mean about popular. Think it had 198 comments :-). I will have to give it a go. Hubby a pain and doesn't like cinnamon so will have to leave that out as he can smell it out at 50 paces. Thank you!!!

Pam, I think folk know me more for that recipe than anything in my garden!

Rarely make it these days as far too sugary for a Diabetic :o(

Coffee mornings and bazaars always welcome jars of home made jam.
Or you could buy some Kilner jars and try bottling them.

I loves plums mm-mmm. Santa Rosa plum might be the most delicious fruit in the world.

My daughter doing the Jam. Few years back bought her a tefel jam maker. You just chop the fruit, put all ingredients in and it does it all for you. She had seen it and asked for it for a birthday. Will have to look up bottling as never done it before. Thank you Sue.

Shirley, have you tried the Half spoon sugar. Hubby a diabetic but has a sweet tooth. I use it in baking as only half sugar. One of his favourites is a South African flap jack that I was given the recipe that I add seeds to as seed take longer to digest along witn the oats so better for even blood sugar levels after eating. It does have 2tbs of golden syrup in but that for whole mixture and friend who gave it to me son is a type 1. The half spoon is a lot sweeter so in things like these can get away with alot less added. I am planning on making your cake tomorrow but will limit hubby to small piece . If you would like the recipe for flap jacks let me know. They are even nice crumbled over yogurt :-)

Lol Stan510. Mine are Victoria plums. What is the difference? Hubby was eating them straight off the tree yesterday as he was cutting the grass. :-). One branch is breaking with the weight of so many plums.

Jen have you tried Xylitol ? Its made from birch sap and is extremely sweet without being calorific. You need to add very little. Probably wouldn't work well in flapjack but for crumbles and sweetening fruit its just the job.
All this talk of plums is making my mouth water. I would be eating them straight off the tree too - but watch out for wasps!

No I haven't. Hubby very stubborn. He drinks tea like it going out of fashion. When he was diagnosed as diabetic he point blank refused to use sweeteners. I was told about half spoon by a friend. It looks just like sugar and can make sponges with it. I got some, hid it after filling the sugar bowl without telling hubby. Waited a couple of days then asked him if his tea was ok knowing full well he would have told me if it wasn't. When I told him, he called me a few names :-) and we have used it ever since. Sneaky I know lol. Sure could use xylitol in flap jacks as for these dissolve sugar in butter before mixing in dry ingredients. Thank you, I will have to look out for it then hide it :-)

My Oolongs golden gage is my favorite at the moment.....well waiting 6 years for my young tree to fruit sharpens thst sense of anticipation!

Worth the wait mmmmm

Delia Smith has a plum chutney you can download.
Do you know someone who grows something you could swap with?
Or you could offer them to your local care home for residents to enjoy. I am visiting an elderly neighbour weekly in one, and am surprised how little fresh fruit they are offered.

Thanks Drc726. Many years ago I was given Delia's Complete cookbook as I couldn't cook. Growing up in a boarding school with meals placed infront of you didn't prepare you cooking wise. What I loved about this book was it explained everything and got me on the road to cooking. She became known as Saint Delia in my household :-). I have since got one for my daughter as it still published. Anyway, have just got it out and found I've got the recipe you mentioned :-)!!!!! Having not lived here very long and with relocating our business I have not got to know very many people and the few I do have their own plums. Good idea about the nursing home. I will have to find where my local one is.

Pamg. One of the trees in back garden is supposed to be golden gage and another Damson but the previous owner had hacked them right back last year and we didn't get any fruit on either. Hope they come back as I've never tried golden gage and you have got my mouth watering.

Every year I waited to see if I'd get any fruit but with late frosts and young trees its the first year for the gage and the young victoria
Not enough to preserve, just to eat ?

Hope you have success next year

We had the same problem with a rampant grape vine last year (and probably will again this year) so I bought a dehydrator and dried them all out. I had always bought dried fruit for adding to the cakes I make for the peacocks. That cured it, and they lasted well into this year. You could always try it with the plums and below is a site for doing it without the dehydrator!
http://domesticdreamboat.com/dry-prunes-without-food-dehydrator/
At the least they would keep you regular!!!

Thank you Honeysuckle. I will look it up.

Shirley tulip. Made you cake yesterday. It was lovely :-) thank you

Jen, these comments have only just appeared for me, strange!

I have made a note of the half spoon sugar and the Xylitol and shall research them. I am so pleased you baked and enjoyed the Plum Cake :o)

Have not been on GOY for few days as we had friends staying with us. Did your cake again Shirley. They loved it. Partly due to it being a lovely cake and partly due to they don't cook! They live on take aways and ready meals!!! So they just had 5 days of home cooking lol.

Blimey Jen, that must cost them a small fortune!

I'm a bit miffed today as the lovely Plum tree in the garden behind has been drastically pruned, meaning I can now see into their garden and they, obviously, can see into mine. Oh well, privacy gone for a while :o(

I cant say the difference Jen. I just know we had a SRP when I was a kid and to this day its my favorite fruit- more then even Mango.
I love that SRP has a skin that's a tiny bit crunchy-or tight- and the inside is ambrosial sweet and flavorful. Red!
This winter? I should get one bare root.

I've been cutting off a big branch on one of my plum tree today, it broke with the weight from the plums. All my fruit trees have also come down with a bad case of rust and lost most the leaves :-(.

Poor you Shirley, I've only got one neighbour and they can only see in my garden if they climb into the bed as their garden is lower down then ours.

I came up with a brain wave today of what to do with some of my plums. Just down the road is a army base and across the road from it is the married quarters but part of it is privately owned. The army wives run a cafe there that anyone can go into and the profits go to injured soldiers. I asked them if they want a load of plums and they said yes so I'm happy I'm helping and plums not going to waste as I've done jam, crumbles, cakes and bottled till they are coming out of my ears and still got tons.

Apparently some of the branches had damaged the roof of a small garden shed, hence the reason for the pruning. When the shed goes we'll be even more exposed, grrr!

Well done on finding a good home for your abundance of plums :o)

SRP? I found Society of Recorder Players, Society for Radiological Protections, Specialist Recruitment Partners, and even Subsea Riser Products, but no Plums. Wonder what it stands for?

Stera, look back to Stan's earlier comment to see he means a Santa Rosa Plum!