Versatile Summer plum sauce

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 14

Versatile Summer plum sauce

Alison Hoist’s

Food Facts __ 4-

I was brought up in a household where my mother, who enjoyed jam and pickle making, always served interesting sauces, chutneys and pickles. At this time of year friends would invariably produce plums from their trees, and my mother would sort them into piles —- the best for dessert use, the next best for bottling, the nicest of the remaining pile for jam, and the bird-pecked or split ones for plum sauce.

I don’t think it is worth making plum sauce from hard, sour plums. It certainly doesn’t matter if the fruit is blemished or pecked, but it must not have bad patches — or at least, any bad patches should be removed.

I make a few bottles of plum sauce at different times as different plum varieties ripen. The sauces differ in colour and flavour, but all are good.

Because I do not add much vinegar, I bottle the sauce carefully in carefully washed, oven-heated, small soft drink bottles with screw-topped lids which I soak in boiling water. I pour the boiling sauce into the hot dry bottles, almost to the top, then top them immediately. As each small bottle is opened, it is stored in the frig, where it will keep without going bubbly for several weeks. In the warmer temperatures of a cupboard, this sauce, once opened, would ferment quite quickly.

1 minK my ravounte is sauce made from redfleshed plums. Because I do not add much vinegar, I bottle the sauce carefully in carefully washed, oven-heated, small soft drink bottles with screw-topped lids which I soak in boiling

1 kg ripe plums i/ 2 cup wine vinegar 11/ cups brown sugar 2 chopped garlic cloves 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh root ginger 14-1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (optional) 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt Combine all ingredients in a large microwave dish, or a large saucepan.

Microwave on high for 10 minutes or simmer for 20 minutes, until plums are soft and mixture has boiled for at least five minutes.

Sieve, removing skins and stones, pushing nearly all solids through. Return to microwave or stove, and heat again until all parts of mixture have bubbled.

I find the sauce is quite thick enough at this stage, but you may need to heat it longer if you have used watery plums. Bottle as described above, sealing jars by dipping the tops and bottle necks in wax as an extra precaution, if you feel your lids may not be airtight. Refrigerate after opening each bottle.

NOTE: I use this sauce in Chinese recipes which call for plum sauce. The same mixture, with less salt, could be used as an ice cream topping!