Volume 12 , Issue 24

Sand Plum Jelly Recipe

It is June! Sand Plums are ripening in Oklahoma now! We did a search back through our OkieLegacy archives and found this recipe for Sand Plum Jelly that we received from a lady a few years ago. My mother (Vada Paris McGill) used semi-ripened sand plums along with ripened plums which gave an excellence blend of tart, sweet to the jelly.

Helen Ruth's Sand Plum Jelly
4 pounds sand plums, 3 pounds ripe and 1 pound under-ripe; 1 cup water; 1 package powdered pectin (1 3/4 ounces); 7 cups sugar.

The cherry-sized sand plum of the American Southwest is kin to the beach plum, that favorite for preserves from the sandy coasts of the Northeast up into the Canadian Maritimes.

The sand plum is ripe in early June; the season for beach plums starts around the middle of August; the sand plum is a lovely pink when ripe, the beach plum is purple for conserve later in the month but is picked red for jelly. Both varieties gel better if at least one-fourth the amount of fruit is not quite ripe, thus having more natural pectin.

Wash and pick over the plums; do not pit or peel. Crush them in the bottom of a large enameled kettle with the 1 cup water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. Crush again with a vegetable masher as the fruit softens. Strain juice. Return juice to the kettle, reserving 1 cup in which to mix the pectin; combine pectin mixture with juice and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.

Add the sugar, continue stirring, and boil hard for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, skim, and immediately pour into hot 1/2-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headroom. Cap with two-piece screwband lids. Give a 5 minute B-W bath."   |  View or Add Comments (1 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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