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
Local food not bombs groups might be able to use them, or at least direct you at someone who can.
National center for home food preservation is a trusted resource for preserving food. All of their recipes are scientifically tested to ensure safety.
There’s a bunch of plum stuff there, Google plum site:nchfp.uga.edu to get a list.
a few bold humans who I’ve caught plucking from the tree
Let them. You’re about to have more plums than you know what to do with, and yes leaving them there will get gross and attract all kinds of critters; you should encourage people to pick your plums, or pick them yourself and give them out. People are suggesting making jam and pies and such but that’s a lot of additional work compared to just dumping them on your neighbors.
For picking plums, i recommend using a broomstick or curtain rod to shake each branch, all the plums fall, you pick them up. This should be done a few times a year.
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.
You’ve already gotten advice on preserving, but what about sharing/donating the bounty?
Some cities have public portals where you can post the location of your fruit tree and indicate people can help themselves. There’s also this webpage. And failing that, you could reach out to a local foodbank - they may be able to have volunteers come collect the fruit?
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.
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.
You could also share the plums with neighbours. Bonus points if you manage to barter them for something else.
Pic of the tree so we know what we’re dealing with?
Mmm, make plum compote and gift a big jar to all your neighbours and jumpstart you career as the beloved neighbourhood grandma
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.
Plum jam
- plums
- sugar
- heat
That is all
You probably have food banks in your area which would be delighted to get some!
Wine. Throw them all into a container, add some water, close the container. Open the container every now then or it might explode, after the first day you probably only need to open it once a day. Do that for two weeks, the bottle it or, if you are feeling fancy, buy a cask and age it there I guess. I just did pomegranate wine as an experiment since I never fermented anything, it tasted alright. I did use bread yeast but I’m convinced I didn’t actually needed that and the wild yeast was sufficient.
Eat/make what you can and compost the rest.
