Om Nom Nom: Superketchup!
A friend of mine gave me a BIIIG bag of home-grown plums, mostly green (I mean, they're supposed to be that color) and very tart and firm. I had the oven on anyway so I put a dishful of them into the oven for about half an hour, on the theory that it would be simplicity itself to turn already-roasted plums into jam.
When the plums were sorta-almost cool (I was too impatient to wait) I squidged them around a little to get out the stones. It is an underestimate to say that these are clingstones. You'd need *explosives* to get the stones out, so I ended up wasting a good bit of the pulp.
I simmered the pulp with balsamic vinegar, stick cinnamon, whole allspice, and whole cloves plus about four tablespoons of brown sugar. When I was done, I ended up with only about half a pint of chutney. It turned dark red (probably because of the vinegar and spices) so if I didn't know what it was I would probably say it was some kind of fancy artisinal ketchup. If I were still a turkey-sandwich-eating person, I bet it would be off the chart on a turkey sandwich, although as it is its eventual fate will involve cheese sandwiches and spinach-potato curries.
When the plums were sorta-almost cool (I was too impatient to wait) I squidged them around a little to get out the stones. It is an underestimate to say that these are clingstones. You'd need *explosives* to get the stones out, so I ended up wasting a good bit of the pulp.
I simmered the pulp with balsamic vinegar, stick cinnamon, whole allspice, and whole cloves plus about four tablespoons of brown sugar. When I was done, I ended up with only about half a pint of chutney. It turned dark red (probably because of the vinegar and spices) so if I didn't know what it was I would probably say it was some kind of fancy artisinal ketchup. If I were still a turkey-sandwich-eating person, I bet it would be off the chart on a turkey sandwich, although as it is its eventual fate will involve cheese sandwiches and spinach-potato curries.