This year has been a bumper one for plums, and the tree in the back garden has produced more than we can cope with. Plum jam is a real treat and a very easy recipe to make, as it usually sets very well.
Use slightly under ripe plums for making jam, as they have higher pectin levels, save the ripe ones for eating.

Removing the stones from plum (or damson) jam can be a pain if left until the end of the jam making process when it tends to cause a hot sticky mess everywhere. When making this batch of jam I roasted the plums before hand and squeezed out the stones, a process explained in more detail in this blog post.

This is a great recipe for using up a glut of damsons and green tomatoes, both of which I find can take you by surprise at this time of year.

I had for years wondered why we always produced masses of green tomatoes, usually blaming myself for not planting them out early enough, or the weather for not being sunny enough. While I'm sure these factors come in to play, I recently found out that a lot of people locally have the same tomato blight problem as we do, and while chatting about it had found out that a local market gardener has given up growing tomatoes outdoors. He had come to the conclusion that an increase in the amount of fields of potatoes in our area had caused such an increase in blight that it wasn't worth bothering.
I'd be tempted to not bother myself next year if it wasn't for recipes like this one, and the classic green tomato chutney.
They're a staple in our store cupboard and one we wouldn't go without.

We're still preserving our way through a lot of damsons, most have had their stones removed and have been frozen for later use, some have been made into chutney. A quick (apart from the maturing) and easy way of creating a warming winter drink is to use some for damson gin.

The method is very similar to sloe gin, and the result has the same deep purple colour. One benefit of using damsons is you can use the fruit afterward for a boozy fruit crumble.

Plums and damsons are in abundance at this time of year and are great made into chutney or jam. One big problem is how to remove the stones, in the past I've always waited until they float to the top of the preserving pan and then scooped them out with a slotted spoon. This is frustrating as it's difficult to separate out the stones, and quite risky as the jam or chutney is often hot and sticky.
This tip is a simple way to remove the stones before starting the preserving, and although still messy is a lot safer.

Pick over and wash the fruit, then spread them out on a baking tray.