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!