Ingredients
The plums
- 6 kgripe plums
- very ripe, dark and sweet
- stoned
- no sugar at all
Sometimes added
- a stick of cinnamon
- a strip of lemon peel
- a few cloves
The equipment
- a wide heavy pot
- or a copper kettle
- a long wooden paddle
- sterilised jars
To serve
- spread on bread
- with butter
- or in pastries
Directions
- Stir right into the corners of the pot. Do not stop for long at any point. Keep the heat low once it thickens. Stand well back from it as you stir. Use a long-handled wooden paddle. Wear long sleeves if you possibly can.
- Keep children well away from the pot. Thin fruit bubbles gently at first. Use very ripe and dark sweet plums. They should be sweet and soft. Remove every single one of them.
- Wash all of the plums thoroughly. Stoning them all takes real time. Set aside a whole hour for it. Twist the two halves right apart. Lift the stone out with a thumb. Put all of the plums in the pot. That is enough to start them cooking. Set it over a low heat at first. The plums must release juice before it heats up.
- Start low and stir until juice runs. Bring it to a boil and let it bubble. It is thin and watery at first. Stir it through every few minutes. It reduces slowly over the hours. Return the puree back to the pot. Cook it down over a very low heat. A thick puree burns far more easily. Stir it constantly from here on. Take turns at it if you have help. That is when it is nearly done.
- Add a cinnamon stick or lemon peel. Add them near the end of cooking. Take them out again before jarring. Judging it takes a plate test. Drop a spoonful onto a cold plate. Let it cool there for a moment. That channel should stay open. Wash them and heat them in an oven. They must be hot when you fill them. Ladle the hot pekmez into hot jars. The hot pekmez is extremely hot.
- Use a ladle and a wide funnel. Fill them slowly and carefully. Do not overfill any of the jars. Seal all the jars while still hot. Hot filling creates a vacuum as it cools. Keep them somewhere cool and dark. They keep for a year or even more. Discard any jar with mould on it.
- Discard any that smells fermented. Serving it is done spread on bread. Spread it thickly onto the bread. Serve plenty of butter with it. Butter and pekmez together is standard. It keeps a whole year once sealed.
Technique
- Thick fruit puree spits violently and those spits are extremely hot, sticking to skin like hot sugar and burning very badly. The danger increases as it thickens: thin fruit bubbles gently at first, but as it reduces the bubbles turn slow and volcanic and throw hot puree out, so the last hours are the most dangerous. Keep the heat low once it thickens, stand well back, use a long-handled paddle, wear long sleeves and keep children away.
- No sugar goes into this at all — the sweetness is the plums’ own, concentrated by hours of boiling, and that concentration is what preserves it. Six kilograms of plums makes about a litre, which gives a sense of the reduction and explains the six hours or more. Use very ripe dark sweet plums, since underripe ones give a sour result and there is no sugar to compensate.
- Fruit sugar catches and burns readily, and once it burns the whole batch is bitter beyond saving. Stir constantly from the point it starts to thicken, scraping the bottom and into the corners with every stroke — a wooden paddle reaches better than a spoon. That is why it is made communally, with people taking turns.
Substitutions
- A wide heavy pot stands in for the traditional copper kettle, which conducts heat very evenly and so reduces scorching.
- Sieving out the skins gives a smooth glossy pekmez where leaving them in gives a darker more rustic one; both are done in Bosnia.
Variations
- Add no water at all — the plums release their own juice, and water only lengthens the boiling. Start over a low heat until the juice runs, since high heat scorches them before they release it.
- Test it by dropping a spoonful on a cold plate, letting it cool a moment and drawing a finger through: the channel should stay open. A spoon dragged through the pot should briefly show the bottom.
- Fill hot sterilised jars and seal them while hot, since the cooling creates the vacuum that seals them; listen for the lids to pop.
History
Plums are stirred for hours in copper kettles at autumn gatherings; Bosnia and Serbia are among Europe’s largest plum growers.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pekmez od šljiva?
Pekmez od šljiva is a sauce & condiment from Bosnia and Herzegovina: thick plum butter cooked down without sugar, spread on bread. Plums are stirred for hours in copper kettles at autumn gatherings; Bosnia and Serbia are among Europe’s largest plum growers.
How long does Pekmez od šljiva take to make?
Pekmez od šljiva takes 40 minutes of preparation and 6 hours of cooking. The recipe makes about 1 litre. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Pekmez od šljiva?
Yes, within limits. A wide heavy pot stands in for the traditional copper kettle, which conducts heat very evenly and so reduces scorching. Sieving out the skins gives a smooth glossy pekmez where leaving them in gives a darker more rustic one; both are done in Bosnia.
What is the most important thing to get right in Pekmez od šljiva?
Stir right into the corners of the pot. Do not stop for long at any point. Keep the heat low once it thickens. Stand well back from it as you stir. Use a long-handled wooden paddle. Wear long sleeves if you possibly can.
