I canned plum butter last fall and have found amazing uses for it. To make plum butter, I halved plums and boiled for a long time until the mixture was all pulpy and the water had evaporated a lot…it cooked a long time, like, perhaps 1 1/2 hours. I picked sweet, ripe plums and didn’t even have to add sugar. I canned 1/2 pints, pints and quarts. The quarts were too big and I lost a few jars because the plum butter got moldy before it was used.

In western Montana you can get free, unsprayed plums when they are in season (late summer). Just spy a plum tree and ask the owner–I guarantee they will be happy to give you some plums to avoid hundreds rotting on the gound.

In addition to it being the best PBJ in the universe, a fab marinade for tofu and all meats (add cayenne for a kick), great on baked brie and wonderful on crusty bread with sharp cheddar cheese, I recently had a stroke of brilliance with this salad: 

spinach
sliced mushrooms
quartered hard boiled eggs
toasted pine nuts (toast in cast iron skillet with some olive oil for about 4 minutes while stirring)
tomatoes*
garbanzo beans*
onion*


*marinate these items in this dressing for two hours:


2 parts balsamic vinegar
2 parts olive oil
1 part stone ground mustard
3 parts plum butter
dash of salt and pepp


Toss it all together!