Select fully mature, fresh, sweet fruit, free from soft spots and blemishes. Place a piece of crumbled plastic wrap on top of fruit to hold it under the liquid when freezing in containers. Plums and prunes can also be cooked in a sugar syrup before freezing to make a sauce. Plums can be frozen in a sugar pack (using 5 parts fruit with 1 part sugar) or syrup pack (using a 50% syrup) or frozen whole with no added sugar or syrup. Remove lid and wait 5 minutes before removing jars. Process pints for 20 minutes and quarts 25 minutes in a boiling water canner. Cover with boiling syrup or juice to within 1/2 inch of the top. Pack hot into jars and cover with boiling syrup, leaving ½ inch headspace. Cover saucepan and let sit 20–30 minutes.

Heat plums and prunes in boiling syrup or juice. See either the hot or raw pack method: Hot pack Ask your county Extension office for time and adjustments if you live above 1,000 feet. Plums and prunes must be processed in a boiling water bath. For a 9‑pint load, use the following proportions: Those canned in syrup hold their shape better. Plums and prunes may be canned in sugar syrup, juice (such as apple or grape) or water. Freestone varieties may be halved and pitted. To can whole, wash and prick skins on two sides with a fork to prevent splitting. Plums may be scalded and peeled, but are usually canned unpeeled. For drying, Italian, Brooks and green gage are excellent. For canning, choose Early Italian, Parsons, yellow egg, Italian, green gage or Brooks. Some good varieties for jellies and jams are Santa Rosa, Satsuma, Methley, flowering Japanese plums and wild plum. The European plums are freestone and are suitable for eating fresh, drying and canning. The Oriental plums are generally clingstone and best for eating fresh, made into plum sauce, juice, jams and jellies. There are two main types of plums: European and Oriental. A prune is a plum that can satisfactorily be dried. The terms “plums” and “prunes” are used interchangeably.

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