So this spring, my Dear Hubby was thrilled to find a new patch of my wild plum bushes and he has been checking them off and on thought the season, and was very excited to do the first pick, now these plums were all from the new area.
They came home and I looked at them, hmm, a little smaller, a little redder, but soft when pushed and flesh is a nice yellow, tried them and went.. wow, tart, are these ready, cut them open and looked.. yup the flesh is ready..hmm
So make my juice, and then went to make my wild Plum Jelly, well it took double the amount of sugar as normal to get them to the point I like them, but on the other hand, the color is amazing, and the flavor is awesome, its tart-swet, with a lovely undertone of chokecherry, now I am not even going to be begin to try an explain why I find this undertone but that is what it tastes like to me.
Hubby however was unhappy to a point, he wanted the flavor we had gotten at the other spot, made me chuckle a little, and I got to explain that is why we graft and take cuttings so that you know what you are getting, because these bushes grew wild, each group has its own flavor, and he has lots and lots in that other patch that will be coming ready soon enough.
But I will be honest as well, if I had brought home wild harvested plums from the new bushes only, i would not be impressed and I sure would not want to bring them to the farm, on the other hand, I would bring cuttings from the good bushes in a heart beat and see if i can get them started and growing on the farm.
Its luck of the draw to a point when you are wild harvesting, if you are lucky enough that you are picking tree’s or bushes on old farms, then you have a very good chance that they picked those tree’s or bushes because they would give good quality fruit and you have leg up, but if you are picking wild grown fruits, they will change from tree to tree, and you will need to adjust your way of deal with the resulting fruits or berries.
On the other hand the fall rasberries are rocking!, so big, so sweet, so awesome!
Just another Day on the Farm 
Thank you for the post on the plums. My husband and I recently discovered a couple of wild plum trees. We check them once a week. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a wild plum tree, so I wasn’t sure how to know if they’re ripe or not. The ones we found are TART! The kind of tart that causes your whole body to involuntarily shiver! It’s not a green taste, just tart. It’s good to know that sometimes the plums just don’t get sweet. I wasn’t sure they were ready, but I sure didn’t want to lose them. Now, I’ll just go pick them. We’re having plum jelly!
Hi Janice
If they have full color, and have give to the flesh on the outside, when cut open, soft flesh that runs some juice when you push it, they are ready.. Tart is right LOL
Congrats on your find and enjoy that amazing sweet-tart wild plum jelly.. If you want to share some with guests in a fancy way, use it in a old fashioned Jelly roll, real cream filling and amazing homemade jellies will just knock their socks off!
Off topic, but what kind of dehydrator do you recommend? I’m looking for one that works well but I can’t afford the $300.00 ones.
Thanks for your help.
Always feel free to jump topics when needed 🙂 I have gotten a few different dehydrator’s at farm sales over the years but the ones that I bought outright, I got on a sale at walmart, and paided less then 40 dollars for them, they have fan’s and five or six trays depending on what year I have got them on, so far my oldest one is seven years and counting, I do find one of the walmart ones runs hot, so I do limit what is used in it, or will put one or two emptry extra trays at the bottom, otherwise, I have had no issues with them, be it farm sale, or walmart’s when they go on sale. I picked one up two years ago from value village for 5 dollars and it is still going strong.. If I was going to spend that kind of money, it would be a big old homemade one that could dry a ton at a time LOL
300 for one, is out of my price range!
We picked plums wth Not Far From The Tree tonight and they are unlike any plum I’m familiar with- they look like the dusty purple ones we see a lot of this time of year but they are yellow!. Haven’t tasted one yet but they seem ripe and very juicy.
Hi Callie, O those sound good, I did yellow plums quite early in the season, in July I think, dark purple plums in aug and my red wild plums are ready in sept, amazing how much time different kinds can have between them. Let me know what you decide to make with them?
Wow, just one glance at those raspberries of yours and I can feel their cool, dry, velvety smooth texture – just waiting to explode, flooding your senses with flavour and summery scent. YUM!
They are amazing!, I like them by the bowl fresh, but DH made a lemon cake and then mashed them up and used them as the topping, o so good, hope to get another couple weeks of picking of them yet.. No fall strawberries this year.. I loved having fresh strawberries last fall..
So you have everbearing raspberries and strawberries? Nice!
What varieties, do you know? (You did find your farm record book again, right; )
Farm book is back in my greedy little hands but it does not help on one, they all came from plant-free-cycle, and came in as, I have extra’s want some, or in the case of the rasberries, the next door garden has their rasberries on their fence line and now they are coming up in my lawn, come dig them and take them an they are yours LOL
You gotta love perennials. The gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and… ‘specially when they’re free! (Have shovel, will travel ; )