This old plum tree was here when my parents bought the property almost 25 years ago. For the first few years it would sag come summertime, branches loaded with juicy plums. My neighbor and I would load up bucketfuls every summer, which usually ended up as plum preserves.
More than once one of us would be the unfortunate victim of a bee attack, as we climbed barefoot through the tree in search of the ripest fruit.
For the last several years it dwindled its production and we almost cut it down more than once, convinced that it would no longer give us any fruit and that it had seen better days. But then this year, it gave us a crop! It’s branches were loaded with tart juicy plums. So several bucketfuls later, we decided that plum preserves were everyone’s least favorite jam and somehow always were leftover the next year, so dried plums it was!
If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use the convection setting on your oven. Just set it to 100ºF and periodically open the oven to circulate some cooler air as well as check for doneness.
We’ve found that there is an art form to how thin you slice dried fruit, as too thick of slices and they seem to never quite pull the liquid out of the fruit, too thin and you end up with fruit jerky.
The dehydrator I use is just a simple one from the hardware store. Wash your fruit, dry it completely and then slice into 1/4 in slices or so and lay flat on the trays. Follow the dehydrator instructions and periodically check the fruit. I usually find that checking every few hours is enough.
Once your fruit is dried enough, but still chewy, turn off the dehydrator. Make sure you have several sanitized canning jars ready and start peeling off the plum slices. You may have to scrape some of the dried fruit from the trays as they tend to stick. Fill your canning jars 3/4 of the way up and seal your jars.
Enjoy with a trail mix, take with you on your next camping trip or even as a snack for kids. And when you make your own, remember the old plum tree. Just when you may have given up on someone, they burst into full bloom and give an abundant crop.