Isn’t that plum gorgeous?!!! My boss has a plum tree right next to her house. The property the tree is on actually belongs to a little old lady in her eighties. Last summer, I’d often see her on her knees, gathering up fallen plums to try and prevent future trees from sprouting (which I saw springing up all over the place!). Each time I saw her, she begged me to take as many plums as I wanted whenever I wanted. Well, pretty much the only fruit I’d refuse would be cantaloupe, so I always assured I’d take as much as I possibly could. Italian prune plums are pretty heavily producing trees, and I pick a good 10-15 pounds a week!
The first week, we just ate them as is, and I used them for palate cleansers at our artisan steak tasting. This week, I’m squeezing in time to cook with them, and plum sauce was first on my list. In Hawaii, we didn’t have a potluck without some sort of Chinese plum sauce, whether it was a dip for egg rolls or fried mandu, or a mixed into a cabbage salad. Everyone had a different way to make it, but the basic flavors were usually the same.
You’d have the tart from your fresh plums, sweet from a little brown sugar or honey, salty from some soy sauce, ginger and garlic (and sometimes onion) for some savory goodness, and chili sauce or red pepper flakes for spiciness. Sometimes they include a little vinegar (rice vinegar, chinese black vinegar, or red wine vinegar) if the plums aren’t tart enough. I decided that I wanted to create my own plum sauce, playing around with the ingredient ratios. I figured it couldn’t be too hard, I mean, these plums are so delicious they’d be tough to mess up! Fortunately, I was right 
Feel free to play around with this recipe. Some people like their plum sauce smooth, in which case a blender or food processor is perfect. Other people prefer a chunkier consistency, so you’d want to simply mash it with a wooden spoon while it simmers on the stove, or give it a couple whirls with an immersion blender. Another option is to add more water if you want to stretch your sauce or make it thinner.
You also have some leeway with the ingredients for plum sauce. Try and keep a good balance of flavors so the sauce impacts every part of your tongue, but don’t let not having something keep you from making it. If you don’t have fresh onion, garlic, or ginger, you can use powdered. It will have a different taste and consistency, but can still be quite yummy. You can also add chopped prunes, apricots or other dried stone fruit. My recipe is based on the traditional Chinese plum sauce my aunties in Hawaii made, but don’t feel limited by it.
If you’d like to make some, but aren’t sure how to use plum sauce, there are a ton of different things to eat with plum sauce. Last night we ate it with potstickers. Here are some of my other favorites, what’s your favorite plum sauce dish?
-Fried tofu cubes
-sliced chicken
-beef kebabs
-cabbage salad
-egg rolls
-fried mandu
-crispy wontons
-shrimp rolls
Chinese Plum Sauce from Scratch
makes 1 cupIngredients
10-12 small plums
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 TBS grated fresh ginger
2 TBS shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 tsp red chili sauce
Instructions
Slice plums in half and discard pits. Cut each half into about 6 chunks. Mix with remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Heat on medium low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whirl sauce in a blender and add water to thin if desired (I usually around 1/2 cup), chill to serve. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.
Approximate cost/serving: My plums were free, so this cost me almost nothing. If you buy plums it will be $2.50-$3 to make, but the sauce is enough dip for 6-8 people, so we’ll call it 40 cents a serving.
Vegetarian/Gluten Free: The sauce is vegetarian and vegan, my shoyu has wheat gluten. Use a gluten free soy sauce, or just skip the soy sauce and use salt to taste.
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I think plum sauce is my favorite dipping sauce. I’ve never made it from scratch tho. Thanks for posting the recipe
I always want to make oriental sauces at home, but apart from Thai sauces I have not made from scratch at home. I will try this out for sure and use for stir fries as a base sauce.
We have plum trees all around us, perfectly ripe right now. Never thought of plum sauce. Great suggestion!
Diana, this is gorgeous! What a beautiful plum and sauce. Look at that color!
Your on my list for the next potluck party. I want this sauce and your Houpia pie!
This would also be a great link to my “Taste the World” meme starting today! We’re focusing on Chinese food, and this would fit well.
http://alison.blogsome.com/2010/02/18/taste-the-world-intro/
Thanks for this! We’ve got a ton of plums growing in our back alley… not the same as yours (they’re much smaller) but still, yummy enough to make something with!
Oh good! Plums are also amazign for jam. One of my favorites.
Hi
I love this sauce. I made a big batch and canned it for use later in the year. I am working with the Sparkpeople.com program and this is a healthy dip, may I share it on their website/cookbook? I would credit you as the source.
Thank you!
Hi Carrie, so glad you loved it! Thanks for asking. You are welcome to post a link to the recipe on my site and I’ll even give permission for use of one of the pictures with a link. But my recipes are my source of income for my family and the content is copyrighted, so it’s not okay to post the actual recipe on another site. Hope that helps!
Hello
I will not put the recipe out there, since you requested I do not do so. The link would not work in their recipe application. I understand your reasoning.
But just so you know copyright does not apply to recipes.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
The text or directions for the recipe yes, but the actual list of ingredients no.
Thanks.
Yes, I know about the copyright standards for recipes, thanks!
I am going to make this today…have a 25 yr old plum tree… may I freeze the sauce for later use?
Hi Judy, I have a plum tree as well, isn’t it wonderful! Made 50 jars of jam this year. I haven’t frozen the sauce but I think it should freeze and thaw just fine. If you try please let me know how it goes.
You should read “Jam: a true story” by Margaret Mahy. It is a picture book about a family with a plethora of plums : )