Today’s Battle is of the Plum Sauces!

First off: Courtesy of FrankenFoods, we have the back label of a “plum sauce” at Wally Mart:

Of course it is hard to see with my shaking hand here: The ingredients on the back of this "plum sauce": Water, glucose-fructose, pumpkin, brown sugar, modified cornstarch, vinegar, tomato paste, plums, salt, dehydrated garlic, spices, natural flavors, citric acid

What a huge list of ingredients. Let us break it down, shall we?

Their Ingredients:

Water – The first listed ingredient represents the bulk of the recipe. So, this recipe contains mostly water. Nice start guys!

Glucose-fructose – The second ingredient is high-fructose corn syrup. Nice.

Pumpkin – What? Did you just read that right? Pumpkin? Okay, not sure what that would be doing in a plum sauce. I am guessing it is more for body and color. I hope!

Brown sugar – Okay, that is meant to be there, yes.

Modified cornstarch – There is no hard and fast answer to what this is, except it is used to thicken a cold item. See, water is not that thick, so…

Vinegar – This component is right, somewhat. Notice that there is an absence of rice vinegar here. Probably due to cost?

Tomato paste – Seriously! If they used a good amount of plums, they would not need the tomato paste. Here it is used as a thickening and coloring agent. Folks, it is supposed to be plum sauce. What are we eating here?

Plums – Finally! Plums in plum sauce!

Salt – Sure, you need it.

Dehydrated garlic – I am sure this is easier to use the real thing. Funny.

Spices – What spices??? Care to share here?

Natural flavors – What does that mean? Did you know that turd could be classified as a natural flovor?

Citric acid – This is used as a flavor agent and preservative agent. You could just use lemon juice.

Ding Ding! My version verses theirs!

Here is how we do it, and believe me, it is not hard. What you need are a few tools:

Canning pot, with the canning equipment: Ladle, funnel, jar lifter, magic wand

Food mill

Optional – a dishwasher to sanitize the jars. Keep them on dry cycle until you are ready to use them.

With all these items, you are going to make something that your family will talk about when they have your next batch of spring rolls. Let’s get started:

Start with 1.5 kilograms of plums, pitted. My recipe is in the left corner for… foreshadowing.

Add 1 medium onion, chopped

Add a knot of ginger, peeled and chopped.

Add a clove of garlic, minced

Add all of that to a pot, and add 250 mL of water. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Plums will be very tender at this point. Now for the fun part:

Puree the plums through a food mill with the fine plate. If you do not own one of these, a potato ricer will do the trick. Puree this right back into the pot.

This is the second part of the recipe: 200 grams of sugar, 125 mL rice vinegar, and 2 grams salt, 2 grams ground coriander, 6 cloves, 1 gram cayenne pepper, and a cinnamon stick.

Stir in sugar. Add rice vinegar after.

Stir in spices. Simmer the mixture over very low heat until it is about the consistency of applesauce. It will take around 45 minutes. Then, remove the cinnamon stick.

Ladle into jars using the funky funnel. Isn't it great?

Fill your jars to this point. That is, leave 1 CM before the rim. This is important, as the liquid will expand later on.

Seal each bottle with the heated lids, and put on the screw cap hand tight only. More will break the glass.

Place the jars gently in your canning bath.

Process in a canning bath for 30 minutes.

Lift the jars out with the jar tongs. What a handy contraption!

Place the jars upside down on a towel to cool. I learned that this method produces a better seal. I am not sure why. When you hear the tell-tale "pop", then you know you have done right.

There you have it! The recipe follows:

Chinese Plum Sauce

Yield: 2 jars (1 L)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kilograms plums, pitted, halved
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 knot (5 mL) minced gingerroot
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 250 mL water
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 125 mL rice vinegar
• 2 grams ground coriander
• 2 grams salt
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 grams cayenne pepper
• 6 cloves

Directions:

1. Add plums, onions, ginger, garlic and water to a medium-sized saucepan.
2. Cover the pan; bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes. The plums will be very soft.
4. Puree the plums through a food mill or ricer, returning the puree to a clean saucepan.
5. Add sugar, vinegar, salt, coriander, cloves and cayenne pepper to the plum mixture.
6. Simmer over low heat until the mixture is about the same consistency of applesauce. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
7. Stir occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
8. Remove cinnamon stick; Fill canning jars, leaving 1 CM headspace.
9. Apply lids; screw metal bands only hand tight to avoid breaking the glass when boiling.
10. Process in boiling water canning bath for 30 minutes.
11. Lift out jars with jar tongs, place upside down for cooling.
12. When cool, you may or may not remove the metal bands *(Your preference)

The sauce will keep at room temperature for up to 6 months. How did the fight go? Who wins? Let your comments be the judge. Is there a FrankenFood you would like me to compete against? Let me know by visiting my Ask the Chef! Page.

Tagged as: canning, Chinese, FrankenFood, October, plum, sauce, seasonal