Last fall I moved into an apartment with a plum tree in the front yard. I don’t know anything about plants or trees or fruit, and now that summer is here there are hundreds of plums dangling off this tree. They’re attracting millions of ants, as well as raccoons, possums, rats, and a few bold humans who I’ve caught plucking from the tree.
I guess I like plums? But there’s around a week left until they all fall to the ground and become a horrifying slurry, and I’d rather avoid that.
Any suggestions?
TLDR: Have plum tree, it’s bursting with plums, no idea what to do in order to avoid ant apocalypse
I’d be making jelly or wine like there was no tomorrow. Plum wine in special is delicious.
There’s a recipe here, if you want; it works for fruits in general, not just grapes. Note: most equipment can be improvised with some redneck engineering, for example my water lock is simply a piece of flexible tube forced into a U shape with an old hair rubber band, and filled with water.
Mmm, make plum compote and gift a big jar to all your neighbours and jumpstart you career as the beloved neighbourhood grandma
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Pic of the tree so we know what we’re dealing with?
Plum liqueur (soak in vodka, with Cinnamon, ginger, simple syrup – lots of recipes online). Delightful stuff, we went though last year’s supply by February.
Eat/make what you can and compost the rest.
Cordial!! You use a pound of fruit at least each time. It’s great to gift as well. :) It’s just sugar and fruit, very easy to make.
Local food not bombs groups might be able to use them, or at least direct you at someone who can.
Attract some parrots and you will rapidly have a garden full of drunk parrots lol
The fairy should come dancing by soon, right?
I swear If i’m about to be sucked into some looking-glass or magical shoe I’m gonna be pissed
If you want to use them up, this website has a bunch of suggestions.
If you just want to get rid of them, why not encourage the bold humans who’ve been plucking? Put up a sign saying “Free plums!”, I bet it would be picked clean within a day or two.
It never even occurred to me to put a sign up advertising the bounty of the tree. This might be simplest. But on the off chance no one takes me up on that, I’ll still have almost 300 plums. I’ll check out that webzone, thanks
I’ve heard horror stories of people who do this, like, cutting down branches and trampling yards
Pick them all, seed them and make a shitton of plum jam
Having never made a jam or a jelly of any kind, I’m hesitant to try this, but it might be a good option. Do you have a favorite plum jam recipe?
Not the original commenter, but it’s really simple, you just need to mix fruit and sugar in a 1:1, 2:1 or 3:1 ratio and add a splash of water, and bring it to a low boil under constant stirring with a wooden spatula. Once all sugar is dissolved, take it off the heat and stir in some gelatine (powder or sheets - if you opt for sheets, soak them in cold water for 90 secs prior). Keep stirring until the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved as well, then put it into jars, pop on the lid while steaming hot, and chuck it in cold water for a minute to create a pressure seal. Then let it fully cool down at room temperature.
For plum jam particularly, I prefer a bit higher acidity so I’ll go for a 3:1 fruit to sugar ratio, but that’s your call, really. If you want to add some extra flavor notes, you can throw a handful of cloves in when cooking the mix (just get them out before filling it into the jars), and then after cooking, put a cinnamon stick into the jar right before you throw it into the water. That can remain inside until you first open the jar later.
I’d suggest to experiment around at first with smaller batches to get your preferred mix, and then go all in.
The only thing I would change is instead of gelatin, use lemon seeds, as they will thicken up the jam too, but tend to leave a more pleasant texture. Make sure to boil the jam for at least half an hour too to ensure it is smooth.
Oh interesting, haven’t heard of that yet. Will give it a shot next time!
Lemon seeds contain pectin, this is just a natural way to extract it. You can get the same effect from using pectin instead of gelatine in your jam.
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Well the good news if that with the literal hundred plums you have, you can afford to “waste” plums until you figure out how to make proper jam! :)
Yep, this is probably the best bet. Some other options: ferment them to make wine or pit and freeze the flesh to drop into smoothies or make juice out of on demand.
Tell all the neighbors they can have free plums if they pick their own on a certain day
Be advised: the methods given here to make things like wine and jam are missing crucial steps in process. They are going to taste bad at best and at worst… a lot of food borne illnesses in the future of anyone who takes advice here at face value.
Canning and wine making are very specific processes.
Jam, seriously. Plum jam is amazing.
Yup, and jelly.
