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Plum Butter or Prune Butter

12 servings

Ingredients

• 10 kg plums
• 12 pcs walnuts with green husks
• 15 g crushed cloves

Instructions

1. Wash the plums and place them in a kettle; avoid an iron pot, as the butter will otherwise taste of iron.
2. Once they are completely soft, stir them through a colander so that the pits and skins remain.
3. Cook the strained plum butter with the walnuts and cloves until it has become quite stiff, which can take 8-9 hours for a large quantity; stir constantly at the bottom, as plum butter easily burns, especially when it thickens, and finally only use weak heat.
4. After removing from the heat, continue to stir for a while to avoid burning, then fill into well-rinsed stone pots that have been heated in the oven.
5. To preserve the plum butter for a long time, place the filled pots in the cooled oven until a crust forms; usually, melted kidney fat is poured over it.
6. Store the pots in an airy, preferably cool place, not in the cellar.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.