How to can plums (and other stone fruit) at home

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Preserve your harvest with this guide on how to can plums and other stone fruit at home. This simple method uses the water bath canner method, and doesn’t require a pressure canner. The following recipe uses the minimum required sugar to safely can your summer fruit so that you can enjoy it for months to come.

What is canning?

Canning, also known as bottling, is a method of preserving fresh fruit. Once your produce has been canned, it becomes shelf stable so that you can continue to enjoy summer fruits for the months ahead. Canning fruit has been widely used as a preservation method since the late 1700’s. Canning is not limited to preserving fruit, but can be used to preserve many things including vegetables, meat and even dairy.

Is it safe to can plums and other stone fruit at home?

Canning pasteurises the food within the jars to reduce any bad bacteria to levels that don’t harm us. The pasteurisation process involves heating the food within the jars to 72-80^oC. The food is then held in a vacuum seal to prevent any airborne bacteria from entering the jar and contaminating the contents.

Because some bacteria survive the pasteurisation process, we either need to add acid, such as vinegar, or sugar to the jar to prevent these bacteria from multiplying and contaminating the food.

• Sugar preserves food in a similar manner to salt and involves osmosis. Sugar and salt help to draw moisture out of the food, preventing bacteria from entering. Sugar and salt also act to dehydrate and kill bacteria.

• Acid such as vinegar or citric acid preserves food by reducing the pH to a low enough level that bad bacteria are not able to live or reproduce. A good example of this is my simple cucumber pickle recipe.

Which fruits are safe for canning?

Safely canning fruit relies on there being a certain level of acidity in the fruit. This acidity prevents the growth of a particularly nasty bacteria Clostridium botulinum, responsible for causing botulism infection. Only fruits with a low enough pH should be canned with this method. These include:

• Apples
• Pears
• Cherries
• Pineapple
• Rhubard
• Stone fruit
• Berries

Please use your senses and intuition when canning and consuming foods at home. If in doubt, do some more research and make an informed choice.

What is the shelf life of canned plums and other stone fruit?

As a rule of thumb, the more sugar in your sugar syrup, the longer the shelf life of the canned fruit.

Most canned (tinned) fruit you buy from the store has been preserved with very high levels of sugar, meaning that they remain shelf stable for years and years – I remember finding decade old tinned peaches in my granny’s pantry that looked perfectly fine when opened (I don’t know that we actually ate them but you get the point!)

With this in mind, there is a minimum amount of sugar required to safely can plums and other stone fruit at home. I like to follow this guide to know how much sugar is needed:

• 1:4 sugar to water (light syrup) = 12 month shelf life
• 1:3 sugar to water (medium syrup) = 18 month shelf life
• 1:2 sugar to water (heavy syrup) = 2 year shelf life
• 1:1 sugar to water (very heavy syrup) = 2 years + shelf life

What equipment do you need to can plums and other stone fruit?

To can plums and other stone fruit at home, you will need a few basic pieces of equipment.

• Knife for halving and removing pits
• Large bowl
• Canning jars
• Large pot for water bathing
• Thermometer
• Saucepan for heating sugar syrup
• Canning tongs/jar lifter

How to can plums and other stone fruit at home

Sourcing your fruit

In our area, we have some fruit trees located on public land and are accessible enough to pick a nice haul (while always leaving enough for the next person). We also have friends who sometimes have an overwhelming amount of fruit and are happy to share their harvest.

If you don’t have access to fruit for free, that’s okay! Check out what’s in season in your area and see if you can grab a bargain at your local farmers market or grocery store. Fruit is always cheaper when it’s in season, so keep an eye out during summer for some plums and other stone fruit at your local grocer. You can use ripe plums or slightly under ripe plums for this recipe.

Wash plums, halve and remove stones from fruit

Transfer your fresh plums to the sink, give them a good wash and decide how you would like to slice them. I like to halve plums as they are relatively small. You can also can the whole fruit if you like, if canning whole plums it is recommended to prick skins. Larger stone fruit such as peaches may be sliced into wedges. Carefully remove any stones and cut off any soft or spoiled parts of the fruit.

Make your sugar syrup

In a saucepan, add your water and sugar, bring to the boil over medium heat to dissolve sugar.

Wash jars and lids

Thoroughly wash all your jars and lids with hot, soapy water. Don’t skip this step, it’s super important!

Add raw plums and hot syrup to jars

Add the plum halves to your jars (I like to use pint jars) and pack them in slightly. Pop in any spices if using, I like to add a piece of cinnamon stick to each jar. Pour your hot liquid over the top. Fill to within 1cm of the top of the jar. Use a knife to insert into the side of the jar and lightly push the plums to the side to help remove air bubbles.

Close lids

Clean around the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel. Add canning lids and close firmly, but not too tight. You’re not relying on the tightness of the lid to seal your jars but rather the vacuum created by the water bath method.

Water bath can your plums

Add jars to your large pot and fill the pot with hot water to approximately 1 inch above the top of your jars. Bring the water to 72-80^oC and maintain this temperature for 20 minutes. This pasteurises the contents of the jar.

Cool and store

After 20 minutes at 72-80^oC, turn off the heat and carefully remove the jars from the large pot.

Using canning tongs or a jar lifter makes this step much easier and also much safer! Allow the jars to cool completely, overnight is best. You may hear the lids ‘popping’ as they seal, this is a good sign.

Once completely cool to room temperature, remove rings and ensure that the jars are sealed. If any of the jars aren’t sealed, repeat the water bath canning step with a new lid. Label your jars.

Store your plums in a cool, dark place for the recommended time depending on the amount of sugar used in the syrup, see above. Enjoy your plums over the coming months!

My frugal tips

• Source fruit locally for free – if you don’t have homegrown plums, see if there are any fruit trees growing in your area, or ask a friend if you could harvest some of their excess fruit. You may be able to sort them out with a couple of jars of canned fruit in exchange!
• Source your fruit in bulk – buying in a larger quantity often means your can get a cheaper price per kilogram.
• Source your fruit seasonally – fruit is always cheaper (and more delicious) when sourced seasonally. Summer fruits like plums and other stone fruit are best enjoyed and preserved in the warmer months.
• Source good quality jars – being frugal doesn’t mean spending zero money, I rather like to see it as using your money wisely. Purchasing good quality jars that you can reuse and keep forever is definitely a good investment. This will also reduce the potential waste if your canning doesn’t work properly with poor jars/lids.