Canning Plum Sauce to Replace Butter and Oil in Chocolate Recipes

Last year I received a large box of plums from a farmer friend of mine who did not have time to can all of her plums. The plums were seconds, so they were not suitable for canning whole, so I pureed them and canned them as a sauce. When I was quickly canning these time sensitive plums, I had no idea what I was going to do with plum sauce at the time. I was simply trying to not to waste food.

After I canned the plum sauce they sat on my shelf for a few months. I would move them around trying to avoid them on my shelf because I could not figure out what to do with them. I am not a big fan of plums. My grandmother had a plum tree growing up, and I had more plum jelly than I could stand growing up. I even contemplated giving away the plum sauce to anyone who wanted it, but I figured I would get a puzzled look as people asked me what they can do with plum sauce. Then, one day I was making chocolate cake, and I went to my refrigerator to get the butter out when I realized that I had no butter. I thought about using applesauce in place of butter, so I went over to my pantry to pull out a fresh jar of applesauce when I saw the jars of plum sauce sitting there that I had neglected and ignored for months. I pulled out one of the purple jars and hoped for the best. I figure that I could easily get rid of my plum sauce supply if I used it in chocolate recipes.

Luckily, the plum sauce produce worked the same as applesauce in baked goods. The plum flavor was not detectible in the chocolate cake. This was the perfect use of my plum sauce supply. Now one year later I am getting ready to can plum sauce again for use in chocolate baked goods.

Ingredients makes about 1 quart

• 4 cups coarsely chopped plums with the skins on, pits removed (I used dark purple plums)

Directions

1.       Puree the plums. I used an immersion blender the puree the plums.

2.       Boil the plum mixture stirring constantly until the whole mixture is heated all the way through and a deep purple color.

3.       Ladle into hot sterile jars leaving ¼” headspace.

4.       Remove any air bubbles from the jars using a nonmetal utensil. Add more sauce if necessary.

5.       Adjust two piece lids.

6.       Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.

Posted on Food Renegade,Simple Lives Thursday