Justin’s parents’ neighbours have a few different fruit trees in their garden. In the past couple of years, we’ve had some of the harvest. Last year we made spiced apple chutney, the year before apple cheese. This year, we picked almost 5 kilos of plums – the sweetest, ripest plums we’d ever tasted!

We both ate half a dozen each in a couple of days but we would never be able to work our way through many before before they began to get over-ripe. I’d already made jars upon jars of fruit jam & jelly this year, so I turned half into spiced plum chutney and half into plum jam.

I used recipes from the good old Cordon Bleu Preserving recipe book for both.

The job of stoning was a monotonous, boring job but the resulting preserves were well worth the toil!

When the chutney was cooking the house was filled with the most delicious smell – I wish I could bottle that alone!

Here’s the spiced plum chutney recipe:

1⅓kg/3lb plums
1tbs ground ginger
1tbs ground allspice
2tbs ground mustard seeds
2tbs dried chilli flakes
10 cloves
30g/1oz salt
425ml/¾pt white malt or white wine vinegar
450g/1lb soft brown sugar

1. Wash & stone the plums and put them in a pan with the ginger, allspice, mustard seeds and chilli flakes
2. Tie the cloves in a muslin bag and add to the pan
3. Add the salt and 300ml/½pt of the vinegar
4. Simmer gently until the plums are soft (about 3 hours)
5. Put the sugar into a large measuring jug/basin with the remaining vinegar and leave to dissolve. Add to the plums when cooked
6. Bring to the boil and allow to boil gently until thick (about another 2 hours)
7. Pour into warm, sterilised jars and screw down immediately
8. Leave for 4-5 weeks before using

And here’s the jam recipe…

2.75kg/6lb plums
300ml/½pt water
3kg/6½lb granulated or preserving sugar

1. Wash the plums, cut them in half and remove the stones
2. Tie half the stones in muslin
3. Place the fruit in a preserving pan with the water and cook gently until tender
4. Add the sugar and heat gently until dissolved
5. Add the bag of stones
6. Boil rapidly for about 25 minutes or until the jam sets when tested
7. Remove the bag of stones and pour the jam into warm, dry sterilised jars. Cover and tie down

It’s a deliciously sweet accompaniment to morning croissants.