8 Wild Plum Projects to Try This Fall

My dad and I took the kids out to pick wild plums. We brought about 2.5 gallons home and ate who-knows-how-many. Many of them were not quiiiiiiiiiiiite ready yet, so we'll go back this weekend or early next week to pick more.

Picking plums is really quite a chore, since the branches are pretty thorny and it's stressful to hold a baby when you're really getting into the thick of it. When they are perfectly ripe, they also tend to fall off the tree quite easily, so if you bump it just wrong, all the best plums fall right into the dirt. Toddlers wandering into the brush can be a challenge.

Bringing them home with sweet, sticky faces 100% makes it all worth it, though.

And you get plums! For free! They're good!

If I was a more patient and committed person, I'd probably make plum wine. But, I'm not, so I'll opt instead for a project I can complete in an afternoon or so. I still haven't really decided, to be honest. Mercury says we should make plum jelly because he wants to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He's a smart kid, so we'll probably go with that.

For now, I'll leave you (and myself) a roundup of some interesting plum projects to consider.  

• Mother Earth News has a tutorial for Easy Wild Plum Jelly as well as some practical information about caring for and preserving the plums until you can process them. #procrastinatorsunite
• Eating Well has a collection of very fancy and intimidating recipes that incorporate wild plums, which I will probably never, ever make but will perhaps pin the photos to make people think I'm a foodie.
• Hank Shaw wrote about foraging for wild plums and linked to a couple recipes, including a wonderful-looking pie.
• Liz Marr shared a Wild Plum BBQ Sauce recipe that sounds absolutely fantastic.
• Proverbs 31 Woman has an awesome tutorial for spicing and canning them.
• You can make Wild Plum Sauce like Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
• Instructables has a very simple and straightforward jam tutorial.
• Annie wrote about “How to Make & Can Sweet & Spicy Plum Sauce and Become a Food Snob” on Frugal Foodie Mama. 3 Tutorials in 1, people!

Do you pick wild plums? WHAT are you going to do with them? Do you also involve small, mischievous children in the process? I want to know.