My mother’s sister, my Tante Kathe, used to make Pflaumenmus by roasting plums in the oven for hours, with some sugar and lemon juice.
Here’s a version inspired by her original cook, but using plums in jars.
This dish yields about 400 g of gooey goodness (not much left after starting with 2.1 kgs!), and takes about 3.5 hours to prepare, cook and put into jars.
Use it for a tart filling, or have it on toast or with latkes. I think a vegan coconut pastry that’s slightly less sweet or even a bit salty might make a good pairing.
Ingredients
- 3 x 700 g tins or jars whole plums in juice
- 3 tblsp brown sugar
- 3 star anise (optional)
- 5 cloves (optional)
- 4 strips of lemon rind (use a vegetable peeler) (optional)
- 1 tsp ground cardamon (optional)
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 30 ml cognac (at the end, if you like)
How to
- Drain and pit the plums and put them into a heavy-based pot, on a high heat.
- Add the lemon juice, brown sugar and any of the optional spices.
- Boil the ingredients, and then keep the mix on a moderately high heat for about 40 minutes to start the reduction process. Stir every 5-10 minutes.
- Reduce the heat slightly so you have a slow bubble going on, and keep stirring now and again for another 2 and a bit hours. You’ll notice sticky plum puree forming on the bottom of the pot, so it’s good to move that around.
- Tip in a small measure of cognac if you like, about five minutes from the end of the cook.
- When the mixture resembles a thick puree (about 3.25 hrs after you started cooking it), you’re ready to put it into sterilised jars.
Enjoy!