Tart plums and rich port wine are an unbeatable combination.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I love fruit butters because they allow for a little more creativity than many soft spreads. I’ve made several different combinations in the past like rosehip-apple butter and cherry-almond butter, but my favorite has always been ripe, delicious peach butter. Until now. This port-wine plum butter is my new favorite. Tart plums are enhanced by the port-wine’s deep, rich flavor. You can’t actually taste the port-wine, it just increases the plum notes. When you read about a wine have flavors of plums and blackberries, this is the same thing, only our plums have flavors of wine rather than wine having flavors of plum.

- 5 cups plum puree (about 2½ lbs plums)
- 2½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup port wine
- Chop plums, removing pits.
- Add plums to a large Dutch oven or other pot and cook over medium-low heat until soft. Add tiny amounts of water to keep plums from sticking or burning to the pan if necessary.
- Puree cooked plums using a blender or food processor. You should have about 5 cups of puree. Return puree to pot and add sugar and port wine.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching.
- The butter will thickens as it cooks This process takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more.
- Cook until the butter is thick enough to round up on a spoon, or as thick as you prefer.
- Ladle into hot, clean ½ pint jars leaving about ¼ inch head space. Top with the two-piece lids and rings, and process in a water bath for 15 minutes.
- Remove from water bath and allow to cool for 12 hours before moving.
- Makes 4 - ½ pint jars.
Do you have a favorite creative fruit butter or soft spread? Tell us what it is!
0 Comments