Cherry Plum recipes

This is what caught my eye this morning. A tree, weighed down with bright yellow fruit, lit up in the sunshine. Joy! Muddy lay-by, handbrake on and I'm emptying out my laptop bag ready to march back down the lane to gather nearly two kilos of cherry plums.

They're simmering on the stove, and I'm filled with content. Not only from the smell, but also from thankfulness that so many beautiful fruits could be gathered for free - especially today and especially in this overcrowded corner of Sussex.

Full of pectin, wild cherry plums can be found in hedgerows across Sussex. They make an excellent jelly, but as any seasoned jelly-maker will know this can be quite a wasteful exploit. So, I cooked up two recipes for our free-food pleasure, Plum & Rosemary Jelly and Chilli Plum Sauce for the jelly leftovers. Swap cherry plums for Victoria plums, or any other plum glut you happen to have. Here are the recipes, have a great harvest!

To make the recipes worthwhile you need about 2kg of fruit which makes about half a dozen jars of each. Sterilise your jars first and leave them submerged in a bowl of hot water so they are ready to fill. Wash your fruit, put in a big pan and add water to cover half the fruit then simmer until soft and mushy. Pour this into a jelly bag and suspend above a bowl to drain. Be gentle and try to resist giving it a squeeze or your jelly will be cloudy.

Chilli Plum Sauce

When you have drained at least a litre of juice, set this aside and cover with a cloth to keep flies out. Empty the jelly bag into a colander or sieve and push through with a spatula until you have just stones left. Bin the stones and weigh the sieved fruit (probably about 300g). Transfer into a large pan. For every 100g of fruit add:

• 100ml white wine vinegar
• 1tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1tblsp red wine
• 1 pinch of salt
• Half a clove of garlic
• 1tsp or to taste of crushed dried chillies, less if powder
• Half tsp grated fresh ginger
• 50g sugar
• 1tbsp tomato puree

Simmer for about half an hour, adjust flavour to taste if necessary and pour into hot sterilised jars or wide necked bottles. Now for the jelly...

Cherry plum and Rosemary jelly

I have plenty of rosemary at the moment, but use any fresh herb out of the garden that takes your fancy.

Measure out the juice, bring to a rolling boil and for every litre gradually add 800g of sugar, keeping on the boil. At regular intervals, test for a set by pouring a teaspoon of liquid onto a plate and allowing to cool. As you push your finger through, the surface will crinkle when it reaches setting point. At this stage, remove from the heat and drop in a handful of fresh rosemary leaves in, stalks removed, and stir through. Lid tightly and leave for five minutes then pour into hot sterilised jars.