As word spreads among my coworkers and friends that I make stuff, I’m increasingly getting gifts of excess produce and specialty food items.
I’m not complaining. I’m always up for a culinary challenge. And everyone else seems to be willing taste-testers, so it works out quite well.
Recently a coworker brought in a big bag of wild plums collected from his property.
Normally I would make a fruit crisp or muffins with extra fruit. But I’d just made biscotti and cookies, so we didn’t really need another dessert.
At this point, my mind always says: what do we need to use up? And then I try to get creative.
If you don’t know me personally, you may not know that Zak & I travel. A lot. To the point where we sometimes don’t see each other for weeks because of conflicting trips. Anyway, during all of this travel we tend to bring back interesting food products from foreign lands. Which means we end up with lots of bottles of liqueur which might have been tasty as a digestif in Warsaw or Zagreb, but don’t really do it for us back at home.
This plum brandy is a combination of a honey liqueur from Lithuania, local English plums and a few cinnamon sticks. My idea is a bit like a German Rumtopf: leave the plums steeping in the brandy for several months, and then eat them over ice cream as a winter dessert. I suppose we could flambee them too given the ridiculous alcohol content of this brandy (50%!!!).
I’ll post the results in a couple of months!
Plum Brandy
3 cups Plums, pitted and halved
3 cinnamon sticks
1 cup sugar
brandy
Method:
Pour half the sugar in the glass container. Add the plums. Add the rest of the sugar. Cover the container and shake, so the plums are all covered in sugar. Add cinnamon sticks down the sides of the jar. Top with brandy.
Make sure all of the fruit is covered in brandy (this is important so it doesn’t grow mold!). Rotate the jar gently to make sure all of the plums are covered by brandy. Store in a cupboard for several months, shaking gently when you remember to dissolve the sugar.
Eat over ice cream and drink the liqueur as an aperitif (stay tuned for different ways to eat these plums!)
Very interesting! I haven’t really considered making any flavored alcohol with my recent finds. Something new to consider! Good post, thank you!
@Jesse, there’s only so much jam one can make
I had to get creative! (And find stuff that was long-lasting…)
Great way of eating fruit! I was looking for this recipe and i found it. Thank you very much!
Making the brandy plum for Christmas gifts. Followed directions exactly. The plums keep floating to the top. I know they have to be covered with the brandy so they don’t mold. Do we need to add more plums or is this what is supposed to happen?
Hi Toni,
My jars are very slightly angled in on the top so I guess that keeps the plums under the brandy. You could try adding more plums. I think if your jar is really clean when you put them in, since it’s just plums & brandy you have lower risk of mold. I would also give it a gentle shake every couple of days to cover the exposed plums with brandy.
Very intersting recepie ,thanks, Amanda! will try next year for sure!
I live in Lithuania, so no problem with honey drink you offer to use