Photo: Stock.Xchng

If you or someone nearby has a plum tree, you’ll have noticed that this has been a fantastic year for plums. So fantastic you may not know what to do with the things. You can only give away so many baskets of plums, after all. You don’t have to let a single plum go to waste this season, though, as there are many things you can do with the luscious purple fruit.

A glut of plums

The reasons we’re seeing so many plums this years is that last year’s winter moved into spring without a late freeze, leaving all those plum blossoms intact. Then a really warm summer followed, leaving us with a glut of plums. The bad news is that lean years follow gluts, so it’s a good idea to preserve some fruit for next year.

Plum chutney

Plum chutney goes very well with roast ham and English cheeses, and will last you for months to come. James Martin’s recipe for plum chutney uses demerara sugar and a cinnamon stick for a sweet spicy flavour, and it only takes around 25 minutes to cook.

Drink up

Photo: Stock.Xchng

A very good way to get rid of extra plums is to drink them – in vodka, of course. Making plum vodka is super easy, and you can vary the recipe to your taste – orange zest, cinnamon and fresh ginger all make great accompaniments to plums. Plums and caster sugar are combined in a pan with vodka, which is slowly brought to the boil. The mixture is placed in sealed sterilised bottles and stored in a cool, dark place.

Something saucy

Plum sauce doesn’t only have to feature in Asian cooking. A sweet plum sauce is good with ice-cream, stirred into porridge, or even as a waffle topping. A big plus is that plum sauce freezes perfectly, so it’ll last you through the winter if you make enough of it. All you need to do is cook plums with sugar to taste (too much sugar will turn your sauce into a jam) and a little water. Just be sure you skin the plums and remove their pits before you start cooking.

CooksUnited.co.uk has no fewer than 123 plum recipes to keep you busy in the kitchen. And you can share your own plum ideas with their community of UK foodies.

Tags: recipes