Italian Prune Plum Marmalade and Chutney made from One Starter

Italian Prune Plum Marmalade and Chutney made from One Starter

2nd from right:  marmalade.  Right:  chutney

Instead of picking all the plums from my four Italian plum trees (both Fellenberg and Brooks), I pick some green and some ripe so I have a wide variety of recipe options available.  In order to to maximize these options, I halve and pit most of them and freeze them in bags until I am ready for them.  (I also do this with early tomatoes until I have enough to work with.) 

Italian Prune Plums are fully ripe when they are a duller bluish purple with a whitish bloom on them, which may even be palpable.  Inside, the Fellenbergs will be amber colored and the Brooks will be more yellow.  Both types of Italian Prune Plums look similar when they are unripe and ready for this particular recipe:  they are mostly blue but may have small reddish or gold spots on them, are somewhat shiny, only slightly soft and have no white bloom that you can feel with your fingers.   If you bite into them at this stage, they are noticeably sour.  The flesh may have a greenish tint. 

Only prune plums are suitable for this recipe because regular dessert plums have a much higher water content and less flavor when cooked. 

Master Recipe Ingredients  (Makes 9 pint jars or 18 half-pint jars of Marmalade and is the starter for 6 half-pints of Plum Chutney – or you can use it all for Marmalade.)

24 c. unripe Italian prune plums

2 large lemons

3 limes

1/2 c. lemon juice

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. ginger

5 c. sugar

1 box low sugar pectin

Peel the lemons and limes with a potato peeler and chop the peel finely.  Remove as much of the white and all the seeds from the fruit.  Halve and pit the unripe plums and blend a couple cups at a time with just enough of the juice, vinegar, lemons and limes to move the blender.  Pour each blender-full into a large pot.  Add ginger and sugar.  Cook 1 hour on medium heat (with the lid off so extra water will evaporate and the plums will thicken, intensify in flavor and gel), stirring regularly so it does not stick and scorch.  As soon as you get the last blender-full in, also start heating water for your water bath canner and get your jars, jar holder, lids, wide mouth funnel, paper towel, etc. out. 

At the end of 1 hour, remove 3 cups of plum mix from the pot and place back in blender.  Let cool 15 minutes, letting what is still in the pot continue cooking (remembering to stir several times).  Add 1 box low sugar pectin blender of plum mix.  Let sit another 10 minutes, while mixture in the pot is still cooking. 

Put jars in the water bath canner to sterilize. 

Pour the mix in the blender into the pot and cook another 15 minutes. 

Use jar lifter to remove the sterilized jars (heated to 212 degrees) from the canner and drain excess water from them.  Use a ladle and a wide mouth funnel to transfer plum marmalade into 9 pint jars or 18 half pint jars.  (There will be approximately 5 ½ cups remaining.)  Make sure there is ¼” headspace with no spills (use the paper towel to wipe them clean).  Place new seals on and place rings on, to gentle hand tight.  Use jar lifter to place in water bath canner.  Reheat water to 212 degrees and time for 10 minutes from that point.  Remove jars with jar lifter and place on thick dry towel.  Do not disturb until cool. 

Plum Chutney Ingredients

Remaining Plum Mix from recipe above (approximately 5 cups).

4 c. chopped yellow onion

1/3 c. chopped green bell pepper

2 tbsp. peanut oil

1/3 c. plus 1 tbsp. lime juice

2 tsp. garlic

2 tsp. basil

2 tsp. garam masala

½ tsp. cayenne

¼ tsp. salt

Note:  do not skimp on the lime juice because the large amount of onion lowers the acidity.  If you do not have lime, you may substitute lemon juice, although it does change the flavor rather dramatically.  

Sautee the onions and bell pepper in the peanut oil.  Allow the onions to brown at the edges.  Add the vegetables and all the spices and lime juice to the plum mix.  Bring back to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  Cook 10 minutes, while sterilizing 6 half pint jars. 

Use jar lifter to remove the jars and drain excess water from them.  Use a ladle and a wide mouth funnel to transfer plum chutney into jars.  Make sure there is ¼” headspace with no spills (use the paper towel to wipe them clean).  Place new seals on and place rings on, to gentle hand tight.  Use jar lifter to place in water bath canner.  Reheat water to 212 degrees and time for 10 minutes from that point.  Remove jars with jar lifter and place on thick dry towel.  Do not disturb until cool. 

Enjoy! 

Italian Prune Plums - an Overview, to be followed by recipes

Italian Prune Plums, despite their name, are commonly found in northern and central European and West Coast American cooking.  They are called prune plums because they are meaty and have a low water content, so they dry easily.  They are also excellent for making jams and for baking.   In German and Slovak cooking, they are often used in tarts and pastries.  In French cooking, often as sauces for meats.  (This is not to say you won't find them used either way in either region; just that these are the most famous uses to my knowledge.)  California has made a big business of drying plums similar to these and shipping them all over the U.S. as prunes.

I think the variety that one finds growing all over Oregon and Washington state, the Fellenberg, which is smaller and therefore not grown commercially in California, is the tastiest of all the prune plums.

Below is a photo of the plums in various ripenesses, picked at the same time.  The plums that are closest to the outer edge of the tree will be more ripe because they receive more sunlight. 


They have a bluer color and a whitish bloom on
outside.  The ripest plums will have an almost gritty feeling to the bloom - this is wild yeast that is attracted to the sugars in the fruit.  You don't often see this on other plums; Italian prune plums are exceptionally sweet.  Don't worry about this yeast.  It won't hurt you at all.   When you cut them open, the meat will have a nice amber color and will separate easily from the pit.  (The Brooks prune plum is more yellow inside.)

The shinier, more red fruits are unripe, have a slightly greenish yellow interior and are sour.  However, if you want to ripen them fully, you can place them in a paper bag on your counter and they will finish ripening in two or three days.

I actually like to pick plums in assorted stages of ripeness so they are more useful for recipes.  The unripes make excellent chutneys and pickles and have a much lower acidity (about 4.6) so they are useful in their own way.  Within the next day or so I will provide recipes for marmalade, chutney and jam, all using multiple ripenesses of Italian prune plums.

I pick the plums one tree at a time and halve and pit them, labeling them according to their ripeness and place them in freezer bags.  (I reuse these bags later for apples and pears).  Then I can just thaw the bags when I am ready to can.   All my plums are ripe now, but I am taking my time; I've made maybe four or five cases of jam and chutney so far - about a third of what I will make, because frozen fruit can wait.  Frozen plums also keep nicely and can be used for pastries and pies a month or two down the road.  I brought a bag to a lady I cook for every Saturday and she was delighted.  She said she froze them and took them out to eat like popsicles!  I never thought of that!   

If you like, you can remove the skins of plums by boiling them for about 2 minutes after picking them, then soaking them in ice water about 2 minutes, then rubbing their skins off one at a time.  However, I find this totally unnecessary.  I just blend all the plums before or during the cooking process.  The skin gives the jam a beautiful color and contributes fiber and a few nutrients.  (Most nutrients are lost during the long cooking process anyway, so keeping the skin helps.)

South Coast Dining - Bandon and Port Orford

It is a tradition already with my new husband (2 years) and me to go on trips rather than to splurge on gifts for our birthdays.  After all, we have plenty of stuff already, but very little adventure, especially with me trying to juggle both work and school.  

Fresnel lens inside of Cape Blanco Lighthouse

We made reservations for a little cabin called Hawk that overlooks the ocean and lighthouse in Cape Blanco State Park.  At only $37 a night, it was an incredible bargain, even if we had to use a public bathroom and shower.   The trail to the bathroom was a bit creepy in the dark, even holding a big Mag Lite that could theoretically be used as a weapon.  

To save a little money, I packed a box with crackers, granola bars, peanut butter, apples, plums, carrots, celery, instant coffee, tea, water, and an electric tea kettle.  I made 5-spice hummus.  (Recipe to follow.) 

On the way down, we passed a farm stand I usually never drive by:  Brosi's Sugar Tree, just outside of Winston, on Hwy. 42.  I am behind in picking my own plums and pears, and we were also in a bit of a hurry, so it did make sense for us to keep going.   However, I did have to stifle a feeling that I was missing out a little bit, because last year I bought some beautiful chanterelle mushrooms and walnuts there, both very fresh and tasty, about this time of year. 

We made a pit stop in the cute little town of Coquille, which is just east of Hwy. 101, because I just couldn't make it to Bandon.  We stopped at Frazier's, a little cafe'/bakery, thinking we might find a nice loaf of crusty bread to go with the hummus, since I hadn't had time to make any.   

Coquille has some great Victorian and Art Deco buildings, some of which have been restored, but it doesn't really have much tourist traffic yet.  When we stepped into the bakery, I noticed most of the patrons were probably born in the 30's.  I assumed most of the food would suit 1950's tastebuds - before people began to demand whole grain flours and reasonable quantities of sugar.  Sure enough, the cannoli my husband bought, although pretty, tasted like something from a Whitman's sampler.  Oh, well.  The coffee was acceptable and the bathrooms were clean, and that was all we really needed, anyway.  The cafe was jammed with people apparently enjoying the large selection of donuts, cookies and sweet rolls, though, so if you like sweets, don't take my grumblings as gospel.  Frazier's might be your idea of heaven.

On to Bandon.  We drove into Old Town and parked at the docks.  A big crab balloon waved at us.  We went into Tony's Crab-shack/Port O'Call.  Tony's not only serves great food in a casual dockside atmosphere,  but also supplies crabbers with gear and 3 day fishing licenses.  They even clean and cook crabs that people bring to them!   

We both ordered crab cakes.   David also ordered a half dozen raw oysters.  We did have to wait awhile and sit outside in the wind, but the oysters were fresh and plump and the crab cakes were delicious and not at all greasy or heavily breaded.  (In fact, since I grew to love the crab cakes I ate on the Chesapeake Bay when I lived in Virginia and Maryland, I usually don't order them anywhere else anymore, finding them disappointing.  But these were very nice.  I have had the same experience with soft shell crabs - I like them better on the East Coast.  But hard shell crabs just boiled and eaten out of the shell are far tastier here in Oregon.) 

After we left Tony's, we walked over to 2nd St. to Coastal Mist, where I assumed we would pick up a gift for my mother and maybe a small treat for later at camp.  After all, we had just finished lunch.  Internet reviews described the desserts there as spendy, but beautiful and delicious.  Since David and I spent a lot of time in big cities back East, (me in Washington, D.C., him in Tampa), we've been in some upscale patisseries.  We weren't really expecting much from a town with 3,000 people.  

The chocolates are even better than the descriptions had led me to believe - truly artisanal.  I have a picture of the two we selected below.  These are not the most flashy, but are the ones the owner selected as her favorites after being told one of us (me) needed a dairy-free dessert.  The one on the left is an almond tart.  On the right is a cake that is layered with mousse.  As you can see, these are not in to-go boxes, but are on plates.  We were piglets and ate them right after our lunches rather than waiting for later.  We decided, probably prudently, that we would purchase coffee (coffee beans ground with cocoa beans) for my mother's present because if we bought chocolate, it would probably not make it home.  

If I had been alone, I probably would have peppered the owner, who seemed like a very nice lady, with questions about her training.  Clearly she has been to a very fine school.  I wish I had taken a picture of her carrot cake, which had an exceptional mirror glaze. 

After Bandon, we drove on to Cape Blanco and checked into our adorable little cabin.  We felt quite satisfied to eat our humble meal of hummus, crackers, apples, carrots and plums after such a splurge earlier in the day.

The following day we intended to eat at the (according to the reviews) reasonably priced Crazy Norwegian's in Port Orford, but it was closed for the day, so we went into Redfish, an upscale restaurant overlooking the beach.  If it had been dinner, we might not have been let in, since we had not brought any nice clothes at all.  See my beach attire, below:

Mushrooms aren't just for eating anymore

We ordered salmon tacos, a lamb burger, chowder, coffee and a cappuccino.  The waitress brought out some nice crusty French bread and some fresh whipped butter that had just a tiny trace of salt.  The restaurant adjoins Battle Rock Park, so we had an excellent view of waves hitting an enormous rock.  Occasionally a brave (or fool-hardy) person clambered up the rock in high winds and we watched to see if he toppled off.  

David's salmon portions were small, but he was quite satisfied with the flavor.  My lamb burger was delicious, topped with a perfect aioli sauce and served on a crusty roll.  My only complaint was that I had asked that it be served as rare as they were willing to serve it to me.  I should have been more specific.  It appears they were willing to serve it to me brown all the way through.

The bill at Redfish came to $53 after tip for two of us, with no alcohol and no dessert.  I do love a good meal, but that was enough of a splurge for the day.  We had another hummus, fruit and veggie meal in our cabin.  A simple meal, but also pleasurable because we had each other and another fine view. 

The following day, our last day in the cabin, we stopped in Bandon again on our way home.  We patronized the other fish house, Bandon Fish Market and Chowder House.  David got a chowder in a bread bowl and an order of fried calamari and chips with a side of cole slaw.  I got salmon and chips with a side of cole slaw.  The salmon, cole slaw and bread were very good.  The chowder was low on clams. The calamari was yummy at first, but as it cooled, it seemed overly salty and hard.  We were just not as impressed, although the portions were large.  On the way out, I saw a broken down cardboard box for Sisco breaded clam strips!  For a fish market right on the Bandon dock.  Amazing.

We walked over to the crabbing area on the docks to check out the regulations. No dogs.  We will have to think about this.  I missed our dogs, but it was also pretty impressive to see people lug 5 gallon buckets full of Dungeness up to Tony's to be processed.  I'm sure we will return.  The question is:  with or without crabbing gear and dogs?