Spicy Plum Sauce

Speaking of harvest season, I want to share the plum sauce recipe I recently made. First the plums - they are what we locally call Bohemia plums. I don't know the origin but the way one gets them is from someone else who has a tree - either planting the fruits or digging up a little, nearby tree. The fruit is a small blue plum, very sweet and soft when fully ripe with no trace of bitterness in the skin like many other plums. To eat, you pop the whole plum in your mouth and mush out the pit with your tongue.

I grew up with these plums and have only recently acquired some trees. While my trees only a few fruits, my mom's trees were loaded this year thus the need to make the plum sauce. I looked for some recipes for plum sauces and used them to create my own spicy version for use on egg rolls, duck, stir-frys and to use when grilling.

Recipe
Place 2 quarts washed and pitted plums in a heavy kettle and turn on low heat.

As the plums are heating prepare and add vegetables to the pot:
1 cup chopped red sweet pepper
3 large jalapenos, chopped (you can leave in seeds if you want to avoid handling)

1 medium size garlic bulk separated into cloves and chopped



Then add:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup brown rice syrup (or you could substitue other liquid sweetener such as honey or maple syrup)

1/3 cup tamari

1 cup molasses

6 oz jar of chopped pickled (sushi) ginger
Cook, covered, on low heat, stirring often to prevent sticking, until everything is very soft.
Process in food processor until a smooth sauce-like consistancy.

Return to low heat and add 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder.

The recipe yields about 5 pints of sauce which can be stored in the refrigerator, frozen or canned.