Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Juicing Plums in Your Crock Pot

Not too long ago I received a call from my friend, Earlene. The plum tree in their yard was overflowing and she offered me some of the overflow. What a wonderful offer! Not only did she pick the plums and bag them for me, (her husband, Kenneth probably was a big help) but she and Kenneth (the "Green Tomato Salsa Master") delivered them to my door! I am always appreciative of fresh produce...unless it's okra (we've established this fact in a previous post). My dilemma on this particular day was that I had an annual chamber banquet to attend that evening and was leaving the next morning for a trip, but I never turn down beautiful fresh fruit!

I came up with a solution. I rinsed the plums and picked off stems and leaves. Using a sharp paring knife, I got rid of the few bad places in the fruit. I placed the fruit and just enough water to barely cover the plums in my large crock pot, set it on low and went about my busy day and evening. That night when I returned from the dinner, I changed out of my good clothes and got to work. It was simple; using a strainer, I mashed the plums and poured all the strained juice into a pan. Because the juice was already hot, I was ready to add the sugar and Sure-Jell and make jelly (I had my containers ready to go).

Another time that I was blessed with a gift of fresh fruit and didn't have time to make the jelly that day, I followed the same steps with the crock pot and sealed the strained juice in a plastic container with a tight lid for the freezer. Now, whenever I want to make some more jelly, I have juice to thaw and put on the stove!
If you want to know how jelly done this way turned out, it was a hit. I shared some and got compliments on it. To be fair, the real reason that jelly was sooo good was the wonderful flavor of Earlene and Kenneth's plums. It's nice to have friends who come bearing fruit....no matter what day it is!

I will be at these great blogs today; please give them a look!
-We Are That Family
-Dining with Debbie
-The King's Court IV

4 comments:

  1. I never considered juicing a plum,lol! I know the jelly was great though!

    Thanks for stopping by What's Cooking Wednesday! Hope to see you next week!

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  2. Love this idea! What a great, easy way to get the beginnings of jam. This summer I made lots of peach and pear nectar from gobs of fresh fruit (some from our tree and some from my mom's). I love to pull it out of the freezer all winter long. Now I'm wishing I had some plum jelly, too :) Thanks for the nifty idea.

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  3. boy, I wish I had friends that bore fruit!

    Thanks for stopping by What's Cooking Wednesday! Hope you link up with us again next week!

    Diane

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  4. I've done this before...so easy. I turned mine into a plum jam. YUM! I found you from y'day What's Cooking Wednesday. I would love for you to share this recipe or another at my Tip Day Thursday Carnival over at Around My Family Table. Thanks. Wendy

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