Asian Plum Sauce Recipe

Plum sauce is a sweet and sour condiment used as a dip in Chinese cuisine or as a glaze for meats such as roast duck. It is made from sweet plums melded with other fruits, in this case peaches, along with sugar, vinegar, salt, ginger and peppers.

Asian Plum Sauce

Ingredients

3 lbs. Plums, pitted and chopped
2 lbs peaches, pitted and chopped
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Chinese rice wine
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 lb mixed hot and sweet peppers. I prefer to use about 2/3 sweet to 1/3 hot – but some like it hot so the blend ratio is not written in stone.
5 large garlic cloves, minced
1 small white onion, chopped
1/4 cup minced ginger
1/4 cup dry turmeric
1/2 teaspoon spicy yellow mustard
4 tspn. pickling salt
1 Tbspn. ground cinnamon [without added sugar]

Combine the chopped fruits and 3 cups of cider vinegar in a large non reactive pan. Simmer, not boil but simmer the mixture for about 1/2 hour. The fruit should be very soft at this point, but not liquified.

In a seperate nonreactive pan combine the brown and white sugar with the remaining 1 cup of cider vinegar. Boil and stir them together to make certain the sugars are completely dissolved. Once the mix hits a rolling boil and the sugar is dissolved, add all remianing ingredients which of course includes the chopped fruits. Reduce the heat at this point and allow the mixture to simmer on low medium heat for about an hour.

After about an hour the excess water should have been evaporated off leaving you with a thick syrupy sauce, if its still too watery for your liking, simmer it longer. There may still be some small chunks and fruit fibers, some people like to strain it, you can if you’d like but it is purely optional. Ladle into suitable mason jars and seal sufficiently. It’s advisable to procees them in a hot water bath. Store the jars in a cool, dark and dry location.