How to keep the plums for the winter fresh?
 how to keep plums

Plum - a delicious, fragrant fruit. Crop harvested at the end of summer. They are placed in storage and make homework for the winter. With fragrant, juicy fruit should be treated carefully to keep it for a long time. Improper storage causes the delicate fruit to start to deteriorate.

To avoid this, it is worth observing certain rules that will help preserve the harvest for a long time. How to keep the plums for the winter fresh? Will sing the plum after the break? Questions concern many gardeners. We will deal with this in more detail.

How to collect plums?

Before you prepare the fruit for the winter, it must be properly collected from the tree. It is necessary to observe the following rules:

  1. Harvesting should be carried out only in dry weather. Moisture leads to the fact that the fetus quickly begins to rot. Therefore, dry fruits stored longer.
  2. Watch out for ripening. Harvesting takes place in several stages, as ripening is gradual. Tear off the ripe plum from the branches, do not wait until it falls.
  3. If you plan to store the harvest for a long time, then it is recommended to cut it with scissors and immediately place it in storage containers. Keep a wax coating, it protects against the adverse effects of the environment.
  4. While harvesting, carefully remove the fruit. Start collecting from the lower extreme branches, then move gradually to the upper branches, moving to the trunk. The tree has fragile wood, so do not tilt the branches. If you are planning to transport or store the harvest, remember you can’t rub the tree, otherwise the fruits will all be beaten. This method is only suitable if the fruit will immediately be eaten.
  5. Maturation is not simultaneous, so the collection is carried out in several stages. The ripened fruits are suitable for the fresh use, for jam, jam.
  6. For storage, remove without mechanical damage.
 Freshly picked plums
Freshly picked plums

Is it possible to collect green fruit?

Let's see if the ripped green plum ripens? Harvesting takes place in several stages, but it happens that the entire harvest is necessary. Then you have to harvest the whole crop. An immature plum binds at home, but only at room temperature.

Never store unripe ripped fruits in the fridge; the ripening process stops. Fruits lose taste over time.

Do fruits ripen after ripping and how to help ripen?

Harvested unripe plums can survive. Inspect the harvest. Select healthy without spots, dents. Bring to a mature state in several ways:

  1. Hold the fruit for several days outside the fridge until they mature. But you can put the crop in a paper bag, which will speed up the process. During ripening, fruits produce ethylene gas. Therefore, putting the berries in a paper bag, you surround them with this gas, which will lead to rapid maturation.
  2. Do not store unripe plums in the refrigerator. Maturation will stop and the fruit will become tasteless.
  3. If there is no rush in ripening, then fold the fruits into a bowl on the table. They will need an extra day to mature.
  4. Fruits ripen faster at room temperature. Do not put them in the refrigerator until they are fully ripe.
  5. Fruits should not be placed on the window sill for rapid ripening. The sun's rays will overheat the berry, and it will begin to rot.
  6. Ripe fruits smell sweet and fresh, soft to the touch. They may appear dusty tint, which indicates ripeness. As soon as you notice this, they can be removed for long-term storage.
  7. Do not let the fetus to perespe, otherwise it will begin to secrete juice, the skin will become soft, the flesh will turn black.

How to keep the fruit at home for the winter?

The freshness of only collected fruits can be preserved for several days if the ambient temperature is not higher than 25 degrees.This temperature is ideal for unripe fruits, they ripen faster.

If the plums were kept at room temperature and did not begin to deteriorate, then I can extend them in the refrigerator.

 Preparation of plums for winter storage
Preparation of plums for winter storage

How to store fresh plums?

  • It is forbidden to store in plastic bags, this leads to the appearance of rot.
  • Large fruit is best stored in carton for eggs in the refrigerator. This method of storage will help preserve the fruit for three weeks.
  • For storage in the refrigerator should be at least 5 degrees. At low temperatures, the flesh darkens, the taste and aroma is lost.
  • Despite the fact that you want to save the fruit, it is better to eat as early as possible. This is due to the fact that over time the taste, appearance, aroma and flesh become less saturated.
  • You can freeze the fruit, but only you must first remove the bone.
  • You can store on the balcony in a dark place in wooden boxes. The number of layers in the box should be minimal.

You can save the harvest in the following ways:

  1. In the refrigerator, you can store plums for two weeks.
  2. In the cellar, the fruit with a stone may persist for more than a month, but if during storage the fruit will be regularly inspected.
  3. Dried plums stored for several months. The process of preparing the fruit includes several stages. Washing, blanching, drying in the oven.
  4. Cold storage can be increased up to three weeks. For this, immature and solid plum varieties will do. Put the fruit in the refrigerator, stand for 15 hours at 0 degrees, then increase the temperature to 5 degrees. Due to this difference, the fruit will not lose its taste and will be able to survive longer.
  5. Plums can be frozen. It is worth noting that it is only necessary to freeze once, the fruit will not withstand the repeated procedure. Choose to freeze ripe, fragrant, without damage to the fruit, the unripe fruit will not be tasty when you defrost it. Before freezing the fruit must be washed and dried. Remove the bone, spread the plum on a tray, freeze. Then put the frozen fruit in a container.
  6. Prepare plum need and sweet. Therefore, prepare a plum jam, which is suitable for baking.You can store it for more than six months. For the preparation you will need ripe plum, sugar, pectin and lemon juice. Clean plums, boil a little, rub through a sieve, add sugar, pectin and some lemon juice. Boil for half an hour. Spread ready jam into clean jars.

     Fresh plums collected in the fall
    Fresh plums collected in the fall
The longer you keep a plum, the worse it becomes its taste, reduced saturation of taste and aroma of garden culture.
  1. Properly dried plums are not only tasty, but healthy. Prepare prunes. It is better to use such varieties as: “Renklod Karbysheva”, “Anna Shpet”, “Blue-free”, “D’Ente”. Drying is carried out in several ways. Electric dryers are used for drying, but in a regular oven you can also get a product with good taste. Getting started:
  • Select the largest fruits, remove the stalks and bones, wash well.
  • Plums need to blanch a couple of minutes in a solution of baking soda. On the skin should form small cracks that will help evaporate moisture.
  • The oven is heated to a temperature of 50 degrees;
  • We will dry on the baking sheet, which must be covered with paper. Spread dried plums on the surface.
  • Dry for at least five hours.Then allow them to cool at room temperature.
  • Turn the fruit and again into the oven with a temperature of 70 degrees, wait another five hours.
  • Store dried fruit in a ventilated room in boxes or wooden cases.
  1. Many do not like frozen and dried fruit, so there is an alternative. Prepare pickled plums for the winter. Product stored for six months. You will need the following ingredients: plums, water 500 ml, 300 grams of sugar, cinnamon half a teaspoon, salt a teaspoon, allspice and black pepper. Wash plums, packaged in banks. Prepare a marinade of all ingredients, after it boils add 100 ml of vinegar. Fruits pour the marinade, banks put sterilized for 15 minutes.

Plums are a fleshy, fragrant and tasty summer fruit, as well as a storehouse of vitamin and trace elements. Proper harvesting affects the safety of the plum. To keep the fruit at home is simple; choose an easy way to preserve the fruit.