Home Canning: How to Can Fresh Plums

For the past 3 years we’ve been sharing with you some of our favorite home canning recipes. A lot of people think that canning is a difficult and time-consuming process. However, once you learn the basics, you can quickly can some of your favorite foods.

My family loves plums…purple or yellow, it doesn’t matter. When plums are in-season I like to visit our local farmer’s market and pick up a few pecks to process for later use. Canned plums are fantastic to enjoy during the winter months when fresh fruit isn’t as plentiful.

When purchasing fresh plums you want to make sure they’re ripe, but not overly-ripe. Don’t use bruised or severely damaged fruits. You want them to be ripe and in great condition. Wash and air dry all fruits before beginning the recipe.

Home Canning: How to Can Plums with Recipe

* This recipe will yield 6 pint or 3 quart jars. Plums can be canned whole w/the pit in them (must prick skin with sharp skewer so they don’t pop during the processing) or slice them in half, leaving the skins on and just remove the pit (which is how I make them).

9 to 15 medium sized plums
1 batch of light syrup (recipe below)

Prep: Wash plums under cold water; drain. Prep the plums for processing (see my notes above).

Raw Pack: Prepare syrup (recipe below) for canning in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.

Fill: Pack plums firmly but without crushing into a hot jar. Ladle hot syrup over the plums to fill up the jar leaving a 1/2″ headspace at the top.

Remove air bubbles and clean the jar rim. Center lid on the jar and adjust the band until it’s finger-tip tight. Place jar on the rack elevated over simmering water in your water bath canner. Continue doing this until all of your jars are filled.

Process: Lower the rack into the simmering water. Make sure that the water level covers the top of all jars by at least 1″. Lower the rack into the simmering water. Increase heat to medium-high to bring it to a boil. Process pint jars for 20 minutes or quart jars for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let the jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes. Remove basket from the canner and place jars on counter to cool. After 12 hours have passed, check all jars to make sure they sealed properly.

Light Syrup Recipe

2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
5 1/4 cups of water

To make syrup mix together the granulated sugar with water in a medium saucepan over medium heat until all of the granulated sugar has dissolved.

* Each syrup batch yields enough syrup to can 3 to 4 quart jars of fruit.

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