Comments on: Cherry plums: a promise fulfilled

By: John Collard

John Collard — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:45:43 +0000

Cherry Plum Brandy!
In November I said “I’m about to try making some of the big/dark red ones into cherry plum brandy.”
Well, I tasted the results just over a week ago!
Into a Kilner jar I placed about 250 to 300gms of fruit. To this I added about 200gms of sugar and half a Cinnamon stick and about 400ml of the cheapest Brandy I could get. Every day for about three weeks I turned each jar over several times to mix the fruit, brandy and sugar, until all the sugar was dissolved, and then for a few days more.
I then added a teaspoonful of Ascorbic Acid.
From then on I mixed each jar two or three times a week.
Since we were going away for Christmas, and I wanted to take some with me to show off, I decanted, and then filtered, the resulting liquid on the 21st December, so it had taken about six weeks.
Result?
Wonderful.
Everyone who’s tried it has loved the taste!
Mind you, I only took a small quantity with me so that there was plenty for us when we got home again!

By: Irene

Irene — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:43:40 +0000

In my post above it should have read picking 4 kilos a day (8.8 lbs).
CHERRY PLUM JAM RECIPE
In a large pot put about 4 lbs of washed cherry plum and 1/4 cup water. Bring gently to the boil without burning and skim off skins with slotted spoon as they rise. Use potato masher to speed up softening of plums. When soft add about 1 1/2 lbs of dark brown sugar, a good shake of cinnamon powder and about 1/4 teaspoon of Stevia Powder. Simmer until it gels a little on a cold plate. Pour batches into a large metal strainer with bowl underneath and press flesh through leaving the stones in the strainer. I found this the easiest way to de-stone them. Pour into sterilised jars. I add about 2 tsp of colloidal silver as I’m not too fussy with sterilising everything.

By: Irene

Irene — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:28:09 +0000

In searching for cherry plum recipes I came across this site. Imoved here to Bendigo, Victoria, Australia last year and we are renting a house with 2 cherry plum trees. This year I have been collecting around 4 kilos (2.2lbs) of fruit for the past 10 days from just one tree. The other one is just starting to ripen. I’ve made 10 jars of jam, 3 bottles of cordial and given big bags away to many friends. As no-one has posted a recipe yet I thought I would tell you how I made my jam with trial and error. As I never use white sugar at all it was a challenge but the resulting jam is just delicious. Will do another post below because I’m out of space.

By: Miriam Deakin

Miriam Deakin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:00:14 +0000

How do you prune a cherry plum in a garden situation? Or shouldn’t you? Look amazing and last year it gave a lot of fruit and is only four years old!! Thanks.

By: John Collard

John Collard — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:20:33 +0000

You say “I’ve enjoyed delectable sweet fruit every summer for more than 10 years – perhaps a consequence of the changing climate.”

Sorry, no.
30 years ago I lived in Maylandsea, in Essex, and had a very prolific hedge of these along our rear boundary. Because of that, when we moved to Norfolk 25 years ago I planted a hedge of them and they are just as prolific, just as edible, as the ones in Essex.
Each tree produces fruit of fairly uniform size and/or colour, smallish/bright red: bigger, darker red: bigger still/ dark red to purple, large/yellow.
None of them carry a mix of size/colour as ripe fruit.
The bright red ones tend to be the smallest, and least sweet. The bigger the ripe fruit the darker and sweeter. However, the yellow ones tend to be the biggest and sweetest of all.
I’m told they make excellent wine, and jam, and chutney.
I’m about to try making some of the big/dark red ones into cherry plum brandy.

By: fiona

fiona — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:23:29 +0000

I discovered a cherry plum tree in my Mother in Laws garden (London) its been there for many, many years & she always thought the fruit poisonous. This year it was groaning with fruit & my Brother in law said he tried one and it tasted really nice & had no ill effects. So we all had one & no problems. We set to and collected pounds of fruit & there is still so much more there. I checked it out in the gardening book & found the species. Today I thought I would see if there was any more information by doing a search on Cherry Plum ‘Prunus cerasifera’ & here I am reading all your wonderful stories bestowing the virtues of Cherry Plums! Thank you. So I am now going to make some Jam & Chutney!
P.S. Yes I also thought a mention would have been made in Roger Phillips ‘Wild Food’. So wake up Roger & do another book about all the lesser known Free Wild Foods!

By: ruth

ruth — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:28:47 +0000

Discovered a laden yellow cherry plum in the local park this September and caught the tail-end of the fruit. What a shame! I’ve passed the tree for over three years! It still yielded over 10lb’s of fruit and made wonderful jam and chutney. Next year I’ll be the first to gather from it. Also disclvered today a greengage tree on our dog walk but sadly only a handful were within reach. never mind, I’ve gathered over 100lb’s of various wild fruit this year and the store cupboard is full thanks to dog walking in the Suffolk countryside. Can’t wait for the sweet chestnuts!

By: Philip

Philip — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:47:07 +0000

My wife’s aunt has a several cherry plum trees in her garden. They don’t fruit that opften but when they do we get some of the bounty. Cherry plums back superb jam. Use the standard 1lb of fruit to 1 lb of sugar. Cut round the fruits and cook the plums in a little water first this is really the only way to de-stone them. De-stoning is an arduous task but best done by transferring a little at a time between pans and getting all those little stones out on the way. Then Add the sugar, boil to a set (the less water you use for the initial cook the quicker you will get to a set, jar and cover as normal. Best kept (if possible) for a bit to develop. This produces at not too sweet jam, which normally gets “good jam!” comments

By: Miles Irving: The Forager Handbook | Provenance

Miles Irving: The Forager Handbook | Provenance — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:16:04 +0000

[...] Miles Irving is one such forager, part of a growing number supplying shops, restaurants and their own tables with seasonal wild food. Miles is based in Kent and runs a supply company called Forager, he sells to local restaurants and also directly into London. Miles has just published his first book, The Forager Handbook and it’s a worthy successor to two classics; Richard Mabey’s Food for Free (1972) and Roger Phillips’ Wild Food (1983). Covering a wide range of UK plants (including garden escapes) with good recipes – often provided by the chefs Irving supplies, the book also includes a useful introduction covering the basics of foraging – including toxicity and sustainability. Unlike Mabey or Phillips’ books The Forager Handbook doesn’t cover mushrooms, but these probably require a separate guide anyway. In testing the book in the shop I went straight to cherry plums, to my mind a very tasty and worthwhile wild fruit that are omitted from Wild Food and dismissed by Mabey. Irving both includes and eulogizes these multi-coloured stone fruits. [...]

By: ann mcbain

ann mcbain — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:27:40 +0000

i live in co durham UK and our first cherry plums were planted in 1947 the year of my birth, the second ones in 2001 to celebrate our 70th birthdays, both the old ones and the new ones have been absolutely laden with fruit, we have never seen anything like it. ther are dark red ones, yellow ones and yellow/red… all make the most wonderful jam, youjust skim the stones off. also excellent chutney, jelly and plum fool….. i only hope the t rees survive next year after such a huge burden of fruit.