• 8# plums
• 5 C sugar
• 1/2 C lemon juice (2 large lemons or 3 small ones)
• bay leaf
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground clove
• large pot for boiling
• 2 plates

1. Wash and de-stem plums, chucking out the ones that are nasty, or cutting out the bruised pieces.
2. Chop the plums. I find it easiest to slice in half, then again and again, keeping the seed part off to the side. Once it is down to a quarter, it is easiest to remove the seed.
3. Add sugar to plums. Let macerate 4 hours uncovered or 8-24 hours covered in the ‘fridge. More than that and they start to get boozy.
4. Put in non-reactive pot, along with spices and lemon juice.
5. Bring up to a boil, then cook on medium (whatever keeps it on an active boil), mashing down pieces if too big, until thickened. This was about 30 minutes for us, but if the plums are riper, it will be a shorter cook time.
6. Water bath can them for 8 minutes. Most recipes call for 10 min canning.

Loosely adapted from The Art of Preserving