This delicious plum sauce has the perfect blend of tangy, sweet, and spice! This recipe is an easy water bath canning recipe however, it can be stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks or frozen for up to 3 months. The recommended canning shelf life if stored properly in a cool, dark space is about one year.
Yield: Approximately 9 half pints
This past October we were blessed with a bushel of fresh plums from a sweet friend. Looking for recipe inspiration, to Pinterest I went! I found multiple recipes for various plum sauces but none of them really fit the bill for what I thought we would really enjoy. I also didn’t want to can a large amount of a single use condiment. Finally, I decided an Asian Plum Sauce would be perfect because of its versatility but I wanted to amp the flavors up just a bit to our taste preferences.
This plum sauce is full of complex flavors! The sweetness from the sugar and plums, the tang
from the vinegar, and the bold spiciness from the ginger and pepper flakes, makes this the perfect pairing for glazed chicken or pork, as a dipping sauce on a charcuterie board or for homemade egg rolls, or in our new favorite recipe, Grilled Pork Chops with Asian Plum Sauce.
For This Asian Plum Sauce Recipe, You Will Need:
Fresh, ripe plums that are washed, pitted, and chopped. The riper the plums, the sweeter they will be. If the plums are not fully ripened, the sauce will have a tartier flavor. You can balance the tartness by adding additional sugar until you reach your desired taste. Leave the skins on the plums as this will provide a lot of natural pectin.
You will also need granulated sugar, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce or coconut aminos, molasses, ginger, fresh garlic, onion power, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.
This recipe calls for black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. You can make this to your
desired heat level and adjust both as you wish.
Prepare for Canning:
To prepare jars for canning, I like to place my clean, room-temperature jars into my canning pot with room temperature water. I allow my jars and water to come to the same temperature at the same time. You don’t want boiling water; you’re just heating everything up.
Place a clean kitchen towel on the counter space you intend to place your hot jars once removed from the canner.
Once your sauce is ready for canning, carefully remove the jars from the pot using your canning jar lifter and empty the hot water back into the pot. Place the hot jars on the prepared kitchen towel and begin ladling in the sauce.
Tips & Tricks for the Canning Process:
If you have a water bath canner, you’ll want to use it here. I don’t have a separate canner for
water bath canning, so I just use my pressure canner with the rack. However, I do not lock the lid in place and allow the canning lid to sit slightly ajar.
If you don’t have a water bath or pressure canner, no worries! You can simply use a large stock pot with a makeshift rack. Your pot should be tall enough so that the water covers the jars.
To make a DIY canning rack, you can simply tie five or six canning rings together and place
your jars on top. If you have an Instant Pot rack you can use that instead. The main thing is you don’t want to place your jars directly inside the pot. Air and heat need to be able to circulate around the jars completely to ensure proper processing.
When placing your rings onto the jars, you want to tighten them with just your fingertips. If the rings are too tight your lids will buckle and can result in an unsealed jar. If you don’t tighten them enough, the water can seep into your jar and ruin your product.
After Processing:
Once your Asian Plum sauce has completed the 15 minutes in the canner, remove the lid from the canner completely. Allow the jars to rest in the pot for about 5 minutes or so. This will allow them to adjust to having the lid taken off of the canner.
Carefully remove the jars from the canner using your canning jar lifter and place on the prepared kitchen towel. Allow the jars to rest on the counter for 24 hours and listen for pops of the lids (my favorite part!).
Remove the rings from the jars and gently press the center of the canning lid on each jar. If the lid pops back up, your lid didn't seal properly unfortunately. It happens! If it's just one jar, place that one in the refrigerator and use within a couple of weeks. If it's several jars, remove all of the lids, wipe the rims of the jars with vinegar, add new lids, and reprocess again in the canner.
If your jars are all sealed properly (YAY!), use a little vinegar or soap and warm water to wipe
the outside of the jars before storing.
Store jars in a cool, dark place.
Want to save this recipe for later? Pin it!
Ingredients
6 pounds (approximately 48 small to medium-sized) fresh ripe plums, washed pitted and chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
6 Tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
4 Tablespoons molasses
3 Tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
6 large cloves garlic, minced
3 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
½ -1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
Directions
Prepare canning jars, lids, and rings, and begin warming water in water bath canner.
Place a kitchen towel on the counter space where you will place finished jars.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring all ingredients to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 35 minutes or until the plums are soft.
Using an immersion blender, blend sauce until smooth.
Carefully, ladle sauce into prepared jars, leaving a ¼” headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a clean cloth or paper towel with a little vinegar. Place lids on jars and tighten rings “fingertip tight”.
Carefully, place jars in prepared canner and process for 15 minutes.
Remove jars to prepared kitchen towel and allow to rest 24 hours.
Remove rings from jars and check lids for proper sealing. The center of the lid should not pop back when pressed on and the lid should be secure.
Wipe the outside of jars with vinegar or with soap and warm water to remove any residue before storing.
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