What to do with these unripe European plums

Hello Everyone,

This year, my Coe’s Golden Drop has been a big disappointment. It’s had so many early drops. I could not figure out why. The fruit are semi hard and greenish. I let them sit on a counter for over a week. Most have turned yellowish but the fresh eating quality is poor.

What can I do with 10+ lbs not fully ripe plums? Can I make jam? Would you recommend any recipe? Need help, please.

One can always make jam, the main thing missing there is sugar.

Many of my Green Gage plums never got up any sugar this year, but are still on the tree. Very strange how some were sweet and good and others sucked.

Wasps could tell which was which but I have to take a bite to figure it out, but none of the remaining plums has any sugar.

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Any jam recipe will do. You also can try to do this: pit the plums, put them in the pot, add about 1/4 to 1/2 of sugar (by weight) and shake well. Let it sit until juice comes out. Now pack them in small freezer bags dividing the juice equally. Freeze and enjoy in winter.

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That happened to me one year with my Italian prune plums. I made jam. The tasteless plum turned into tasteless jam. It was a huge waste of time as I too had pounds of them. They will not taste better cooked. Try making one fruit tart for a taste test. A tart might be the way to go for at least a few of them.

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Thanks, @alan, @galinas and @Mrsg47.

My concern is what Mrs. G stated that it would not come out any good. Will have to consult my chef to see what he wants to do with them. So many lbs. It’s be so sad if I could not make good use of them.

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Try a small batch first - if it comes out good, continue. But if you worry about it is too much - I can buy some from you. Or barter - on green peppers :grinning:.

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Yeah, you can just throw a few into the microwave, get them soft, take the pulp and add sugar to it and see if its worth processing to you.

Being on the green side they will have a lot of pectin and jell well. Maybe blend them with something, especially something that doesn’t jell well. Maybe orange…

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You guys are creative. I am not sure if I want orange in my plum jam, though.

Have you considered plum chutney?

No. Heard of mango chutney. Do you have a reciper to share?

We are busy this weekend, maybe, we will try making small amout of jam on Monday. If it is good, I wiil give you a jar.

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Pickled green plums are popular in a number of Middle Eastern cuisines. Here’s one article with a link to a recipe:

It looks like they may use REALLY green plums, though - yours might be too ripe!

Indeed. Too ripe for pickling and too unripe for fresh eating.

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We use this list of ingredients or the one in the Ball home canning book (simpler) and process in a water bath canner

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