This easy sweet and spicy plum sauce recipe is what you make when your sweet neighbors show up with a box of beautiful yellow plums. Or, it's the recipe you print out and deliver with the plums you might be gifting to someone else because you have a plethora. Or... okay, you get the point, however you got your plums, this is the sauce to make.
It would be delicious with purple plums, but it works especially well with yellow plums, because I've found (maybe it's just my misfortune) that the yellow plums around here don't have as much flavor as the purple plums. But, I refuse to let any produce go to waste, so this sauce is the one for me right now. Plus, my son has developed a strong craving for any type of sweet and spicy sauce on chicken, and we need to keep those growing boys fed, right? Well, the already grown ones, too.
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Resources for Sweet and Spicy Plum Sauce
Food processor- this little beauty literally shaves hours off of prep time when canning. Not to mention all other forms of chopping, slicing, grating, and nut butter making. You can try a blender, but beings we don't want it totally pureed, I highly recommend one of these, one of the best Christmas gifts I ever received.
Ball Book of Complete Canning- Whenever I'm on the hunt for a new canning recipe, this is one of the first places I turn.
Water Bath Canner- Can you believe I still borrow my mother's? Yep, I totally need to get one of my own, because I realized I'd "given it back" to her and had to run and down and get it with five minutes left on the cooking time of the sauce.
How to Make Sweet and Spicy Plum Sauce
Begin with rinsing off your plums. We need 10 cups worth of pitted (this was the longest part of the whole recipe) and finely diced plums. I just used my fingers and squished the pit out, as these were very ripe. I'm sure there's a less messy way to do it, but sometimes, our hands really are the best tool.
After you've got your plums prepped, diced (whirled in the food processor which makes it kind of runny) and measured, dump the rest of the ingredients in a heavy bottom stock pot. Using a thick bottomed (yes, that phrase made me giggle, too) keeps your sauce from scorching. Put all the rest of the ingredients, minus the plums, in and bring to a boil.
Add your plums and return to a simmer. Let simmer for 1 hour and about 40 minutes, until sauce has reduced and thickened up some. You can see the line in the above photo of when I started the plum sauce and when it was done reducing at the end of the time.
Ladle your sauce into clean Mason jars to a 1/2 inch headspace. Take a spatula or butter knife and run around the inside of the jar to remove air bubbles. Wipe rim of jar with clean damp towel. Place on lids and tighten down bands to finger tip tight.
Process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. Make sure water covers the jars by at least an inch. Begin processing time when water comes to a full boil. When done, remove canner from heat and remove lid. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before using a jar lifter to remove the jars. Place jars on a towel folded in thirds in a draft free area and allow undisturbed for at least 12 hours. Check to make sure jars sealed and then wipe down jar and store in a dark cool pantry shelf until consuming!
The recipe yielded 6 cups for me, though the original said 4....
Recipe adapted from Ball Book of Complete Canning
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📖 Recipe
Sweet and Spicy Plum Sauce Canning Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup organic evaporated cane juice
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion I used walla walla sweet
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno peppers I left the seeds in for some heat
- 2 Tablespoons mustard seeds
- 1 Tablespoon canning salt
- 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 1 Tablespoons finely chopped gingerroot
- 10 cups finely chopped pitted plums
Instructions
- After you've got your plums prepped, diced (whirled in the food processor which makes it kind of runny) and measured, dump the rest of the ingredients in a heavy bottom stock pot. Using a thick bottomed (yes, that phrase made me giggle, too) keeps your sauce from scorching. Put all the rest of the ingredients, minus the plums, in and bring to a boil. Stir often, sugar scorches easily.
- Add your plums and return to a simmer. Let simmer for 1 hour and about 40 minutes, stirring every now and then, until sauce has reduced and thickened up some. You can see the line in the above photo of when I started the plum sauce and when it was done reducing at the end of the time.
- Ladle your sauce into clean Mason jars to a 1/2 inch headspace. Process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.
danielle
Can i use pink himalayan salt instead of canning salt?
Melissa Norris
As long as it doesn't have any anti-caking agents yes
49 lottery game
I just tried the Sweet and Spicy Plum Sauce recipe, and it turned out amazing! The balance of flavors is perfect, and I love that I can preserve it for later. Thank you for sharing such a delightful recipe—definitely going to become a staple in my kitchen!
Amy
Is there a way to do this recipe without all the added sugar?
Diane
You said it made 6 cups the recipe says Yields 6 pints?
How to get rid of foam?
Thanks
Melissa Norris
If it's foaming just skim it off or add a small pat of butter (the same is true for jam). The recipe is 6 cups, I fixed it to say that, when we converted printable recipe software it pulled in yeilds weird and I'm finding a few like this one I have to manually fix. Thanks for the heads up.
Leanne
Tried this last year and loved it!
We were excited for the plums on our tree to ripen this season so we could make it again.
Amanda
Can you substitute ginger root for ground ginger?
Cherie
How do you use sweet and spicy sauce on chicken?
As a dip after cooking, as a baste or do you bake the chicken in it?
Amy Lilly
This is exactly the recipe I was looking for. My neighbor did,in fact,gift me about 5 lbs of golden,beautiful plums. Looking forward to this delicious sauce.
Michael Greer
Do you peel the plums or leave the skins on?
Melissa Norris
I leave them on, they get blended up
Shannon
Looks great, would love to try it, but want to be sure it’s safe, I see it’s adapted from the ball book, is the vinegar vegetable ratio make it water bath safe? Thanks!
Melissa Norris
Love that you're focused on safety with canning and yes, I didn't alter the vinegar to vegetable ratio which keeps the ph level safe for water bath canning.
Kari
Hello,
This recipe looks amazing. Unfirtunately, I can't find evaopalrated came juice. Can I just use sugar?
Melissa Norris
Yes, sugar is just fine!
anita
Where would one get evaporated cane juice? Never heard of it?
Melissa Norris
Anita, it looks like raw sugar and I get mine at Costco, Fred Meyers, and our local food co-op.
Leanne
I found it at our local health food store.
Sue Mosier
Is this the sauce used on egg rolls?
Melissa Norris
You could certainly try it, I haven't used it for that, but it pairs nicely with both pork and chicken.
Angie
I made another version of this recipe with Damson plums last weekend. Going to try your version this weekend 🙂 (along with more pickles) I love the color!! I've gone canning crazy, haha. BTW- love listening to your podcast at work, keep up the good work & God Bless!
Melissa Norris
Angie,
I thought it turned out awful pretty, too! Glad I'm not the only canning addict. We're doing more beans and some mustard today with our peppers.
Kendra
Enjoying your recipes! Great advice!
Melissa Norris
Thanks, Kendra! Glad you're enjoying them.