???easy way to stone plums????

[siduri]

I need some ideas on pitting hard prune plums.

I'm making jam these days and have found some really good prune plums, both black and red varieties (the long pointy kind with the sort of fold or cleft down the side) and they were nice and hard, perfect for jam making. However, while hard plums make good jam, they're a b---h to stone. The seed clings tightly to the flesh.

This is what i'm doing now:

with a cutting board and a chef's type knife, i run the big blade lengthwise down along the cleft and roll it so it cuts in through to the stone on the other side, i turn it and do the same so if you look from the top you see an x, and then i run the knife around the middle, perpindicular to the two other cuts, so there are cuts corresponding to four longitude lines (if it were the earth) and the equator.

Then i take the top and bottom halves and twist, and usually some of the flesh detaches.

But it still takes forever.

I'm wondering if i baked them or something first, they might come loose easier, or maybe there is some other system. I also tried cutting the flesh away from the stone with the big knife, plum on the cutting board, but it takes too much time all the same. anyone got any brilliant ideas??

thanks

[Luc_H]

Hi Siduri!

I found this in a forum posted just last July:
...In my last garden I had a plum tree and used to make great jam. You can save yourself the job of stoning plums by just cooking them whole and skimming off the stones which all come to the surface with a slotted spoon. Enjoy your jam! I am now going to make sure I plant a plum tree this Autumn...

Forum link: IdealBB.NET - View Post

another forum with ideas here: Making plum jam - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

I hope this helps?
Luc

[siduri]

Hi Luc
now, why didn;t anybody ever tell me that before? Thanks so much - i did 6 big jars today, but will do the next batch that way. great!