Sand or Chickasaw Plums grow by the side of the road here in Oklahoma. I wasn’t sure the rest of the world would know what sand plums are – I thought maybe they were only found here in the south – so I looked for pictures and explanations and here is what I found:
Sand plums grow wild in the southern U.S. from Texas and Oklahoma eastward. Also called sand hill plum or Chickasaw plum, this tree often forms thickets of plants only a few feet tall. Sand plums bear red-orange plums eaten by many types of wildlife as well as human foragers. The sand plum makes an interesting ornamental hedge or tree anywhere in hardiness zones 5 to 9.
Here is a picture of a sand plum thicket. I can remember standing on the side of some country road throughout my childhood in the heat of the summer having to pick those things while chiggers attacked my ankles!
However, they are tasty so I would do my nana’s bidding and pick! In the following picture, if you look to the right upper portion you will see a big bowlful that I bought at the farmer’s market. They are hard to find and they do not bear every year and so they are expensive. That bowl of plums cost me $20.
So, I covered the plums (4 pint boxes or those big clamshells) with water and simmered for about 10 minutes. Then I scooped out the plums and ran them through the Chinois. Yes, I simmered them with the pits inside because it is awful trying to pit them with a paring knife. They are the size of cherries so cherry pitter can be used but the pits are not round in a Chickasaw Plum, they are more like a small peach pit. I strained the juice of about half through a tea towel. I prefer a clean (double rinsed) tea towel to cheese cloth because you get a much less cloudy product.
Ingredients:
4 pints of Sand Plums
12 Cups Sugar, divided into 7 cups and 5 cups
2 packages powdered pectin
Directions:
Wash all the sand plums cutting out all the “bad” places or discarding.
Place in Dutch oven and just cover with water.
Set on stove to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Set off stove to cool.
With a slotted spoon, dip out fruits placing in chinois or food mill.
Using the chosen appliance, grind out fruit pulp and juice, discarding pits and skins as needed.
You will need 5 cups of fruit pulp to set aside.
In the Dutch oven should be about 4 cups of juice from the water the plums cooked in.
Using cheese cloth and a strainer – strain the juice until it is not cloudy.
To make the Jam:
Using 5 cups of pulp and 1 box of the pectin, bring to a boil and boil for 60 seconds.
Add 7 Cups of sugar at once stirring constantly to dissolve and bring to a hard boil.
Continue to boil and stir for 60 seconds.
Set off stove, ladle into jars and screw lids on tightly.
Water bath for 10 to 15 minutes under simmering water.
Take out of water bath and set on towels in a draft free place for several hours.
To make Jelly:
Using 4 cups of juice and 1 box of the pectin, bring to a boil and boil for 60 seconds.
Add 5 Cups of sugar at once stirring constantly to dissolve and bring to a hard boil.
Continue to boil and stir for 60 seconds.
Set off stove, ladle into jars and screw lids on tightly.
Water bath for 10 to 15 minutes under simmering water.
Take out of water bath and set on towels in a draft free place for several hours.
Those jars are so gorgeous – I can just imagine how the jam and jelly tastes. I’m not familiar with that kind of plum so I don’t think we ever see them here in southwest Ohio.
Lillian
lillianscupboard.wordpress.com
Oh they are wonderful Lillian! And I have to say from one ribbon winner to another: That’s some pretty jelly! I was shocked at how well it came out. I hope you’ll keep reading tonight. I’m posting another about National Can-it-Foward day on Saturday. I’m kinda’ excited about it – something that’s only been around a few years.
no they are sand plums. They are native to Kansas and Oklahoma. I just for q6 lbs and anxious to can them.
I have already made one batch of jam this year and am expecting 5 lbs of sand plums on July 11. I will be making jam with it all! YUM!!
Hi Kelli,
My name is Mary Huddleston and I have been searching for a Sandhill Plum recipe for Jam. It has been very difficult to find the jam recipe.
I would be so grateful if you could share your recipe with me.
I am from Kansas and I have lot’s to can and friend requested Jam.
Thanks so much in advance.
Your post was from 2019, so we will see if you get this.
Mary Huddleston
Hi Mary — the recipe is within the blog post. It’s great! I wish you luck.
I’ve never heard of sand plums (guess we’re not far enough south). These look outstanding! I’ll bet you’ll bring home more ribbons this year!
Thank you!!
I love the use of sand plums my friend, the jam looks gorgeous!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
They look beautiful and sound delicious! I had never heard of this type of plum before. This doesn’t look like a nano-canning project!
No, Too many people LOVE it for it to be nano-canning! These plums are sweeter than most plums and this year they were such a beautiful color! I hope you will link up some of your wonderful canning projects on the Linky Party! If you’ve never done one, there’s a link to watch my daughter on YouTube show you how – or we can help you. You have such great photos etc… I’m afraid I’ll have this party and no one will come!!
I would love to link up if it’s ok that they are infusions in jars… Not really “canning”… You know I am a canning addict, but I don’t really post my canning. I was thinking about it for can-it forward day, but not sure if I will get to it.
Why of course! It’s preserving – right? Yep – I hope you can find time by Saturday!! The rest of the world needs to see your stuff!
I was thinking of adding a vanilla bean and a small slice of fresh ginger to my sand plums. What do you think?
I think the ginger would be fantastic! It depends on how the plums taste this year whether I think the vanilla bean would be good or not. Sand plums have that specific tart taste, you know – at the end and for some reason I am unsure if the vanilla bean would smooth it out or just compete with it. I have made sand plum with Lime and seriously that was great: Sort of a tropical taste. Be sure and let me know how yours turns out whether you use VB or ginger or both! Thanks for dropping by and please come back again!
Just made up my first batch of the season…. 2 1/2 gallons to go. I threw a cinnamon stick in the mixture as it was cooking…. I can not wait to try it.
YUM! I just got some sand plums today so I will be making up some myself. I believe I will be adding a cinnamon stick to some of mine as well…….I didn’t get that many. You’ve got a ways to go – good luck!
I enjoy making jelly, I’ve been looking for Sand Plums and have found what I think might be them. The fruit I found is red like a cherry with flesh like a plum, and has a pit. I’ve been looking on google and everything I’ve read says the bush of a Sand Plum has thorns, the bush I found does not have thorns. Can you tell me if they sound like Sand Plums?
Hi Nadine! What you are telling me certainly describes a sand plum – They are only in Oklahoma, a little in Texas and Arkansas so if you don’t live in those areas – then I would say no. But, I have never found a sand plum bush that had thorns on it. Without a picture, I couldn’t tell you but what you are describing sounds like a sand plum. Thanks for dropping by and please come back again!
They’re in Kansas too! I grew up making jelly with these. We’d wild pick the fruit from the area farmland… This far south in Texas, we didn’t see any… but bought some plants from a plant nursery. Now we have our own clump! Makes the best jelly in the world.
Oh that’s great! Yes it does make the best Jelly/Jam in the entire world! Thanks for dropping by and please come back again!
Sandplums are all over Kansas and have been for years and years. My grandmother, my mother and I have all made many, many jars of sandplum jellyl through the years!
There are wild sand plums all over Kansas also. And yes … the bushes do have some thorns on them. If you read some of the other “Wild Sand Plum” sites, they mention the thorns. BUT – they aren’t thorns like a rose bush or some trees have. In looking at the bushes the thorns aren’t obvious (IMHO)…. but I do wear a long sleeve shirt when in the picking so I don’t come out looking like I’ve been in a cat fight !!
Thanks for dropping by Linda – thanks also for the info, as that will help our readers – Please come again!
We also have them all over nebraska! I’m in Lincoln 🙂 usually we can pick them almost a whole month after my mom in south central kansas 🙂
That’s great! I had no idea they grew that far north! Thanks so much for dropping by and for letting us all know!
Thanks for the information on the sand plums. My husband and I have gone out twice and gathered the plums, I have made two batches of jelly, and my husband has made one batch of wine. The jelly is very good, we’re hoping the wine will be too. We are going to make one more trip out to see if we can find more plums, hopefully we’ll be successful!….Nadine
That’s wonderful news Nadine! I’m so glad you were able to go out and get some and the sand plums are a wonderful addition to canning jellies and jams!
Great reading…..now tell me where I can buy sand plum jelly. Thanks Don
Hi Don – if you are in Oklahoma, click on the link below or put it into your browser and it will tell you where to buy it in our state. If you aren’t in Oklahoma, they have places on Amazon to get it but I can’t be sure it’s real sand plum. Thanks for stopping by! http://www.oklahomafood.coop/Display.aspx?cn=okprocessors
I live in Oklahoma and I don’t know the first thing about canning, but I picked up 15 pounds of Sand Plums yesterday and want to jelly.
Do you give private lessons on how to can or know of a place a person can go to learn?
I’m a teacher so I can be available any day. I’m willing to pay someone to teach me!
Oh Adena! When you start out you go BIG! First, since you picked them yesterday go ahead and wash them, pick out the ones with bad places and let them dry on your counter on top of some paper towels or Tea Towels. You will need lots of sugar and several boxes of pectin. If you don’t have a food mill then start splitting the plums to get the stone out of the middle part and peel them……….that will take you lots of time so you may want to put them in Ziploc bags and freeze them as you go………..however, if you have a food mill put about 5 pounds at a time of de-stoned (but not peeled) plums in a big heavy bottomed pot and put water in the JUST COVER the plums. Let them come up to boil then take off the stove and start running them through the food mill to get rid of the outer peel………….the fruit you are left with is what you are going to use to make your jam. If you want to run the water you cooked the plums in then put them through cheesecloth 5 or 6 times to strain out all the impurities.
Now you are set. Dip out 4 cups of plum pulp and put into a heavy dutch oven on top of stove along with a tablespoon of butter and 1 box of regular pectin. Turn the heat on medium high and (while stirring) bring to a hard boil……….then add 5 cups of sugar all at once and keeps stirring……..get all those lumps of sugar out. bring to a hard boil again and then watch the second hand of a clock for 1 full minute…….stirring while the hard boil is happening. You might want to put on an oven mitt because it splatters and it’s hot!
Take the pot off the stove and ladle into 6 or 7 half pint canning jars coming to within a 1/2 inch of the top. Put flats on then screw the lids down tight. Put another big pot of water onto boil that – when you set the jars in, will be covered with water on top……..you will need a jarlifter for that. You will also need a canning basket – made of rubber – set the jars in there a few at a time. Put into boiling water and set the timer for 10 minutes. After it’s done, pull the basket out and using the jar lifter, put the jars on a towel o n the cabinet until cool and continue giving the other jars a water bath.
Once they are out of the water bath you will hear them “pop” as the lids seal. Once they are cool – you are done – except for the mess in the kitchen you have to clean up!
Easy peasy. You can do this! But I suggest you get to work right away before the fruit spoils. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at davidson.kelli@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! Good luck, Kelli
If you only want Jelly – just cook the plums and then strain the pulp and juice through cheese cloth about 5 times…………I also will use a clean white Tea Towel made from feed sacks and it will make the jelly very clear like the ones in the photo above!
Hi Kelli,
I live in Oklahoma as well and I’m a bit of a jelly/jam enthusiast. I found an outstanding plum thicket today and picked about 3 pounds and it looks like the rest will be coming off in the next 4 days to a week. Will they keep in the fridge or do I need to freeze them as you suggested in an earlier post. Or perhaps go ahead and boil them to get the juice and keep it refrigerated? Hopefully not making wine. lol.
By the way, I’ve also been scouting some Elderberry plants to make Elderberry Jelly in August. Have you ever made it? If so, please post a recipe.
Hi Steve – lucky you to have found a thicket!! I would go ahead and boil them down and send through the food mill then refrigerate the pulp and juice. If you don’t, you run the risk of one tiny sand plum spoiling the entire batch while you are waiting for the others to come off.
Yes! I have made elderberry jelly. It’s been years but you know – I think it’s time to make some. My aunt and uncle had elderberry bushes in their (substantial) yard and we would pick each year then make jelly…………I will get a recipe on in the next few weeks!
Two weeks ago t I notice in my new place like twenty trees full of some berries I did research and find out they are Chickasaw plums today I picked like 20 lbs of them and going to make me some jam and jelly thank you Kelli for the recipes
You are welcome! Lucky you!! I wish I had some sand plum bushes or trees around here! Enjoy!
In Texas we call them Wild Mountain Plums, but they are Chickasaw Plums, and yes the small bushes do have thorns trust me on that . Been picking them the last two months now, and my picking arm was a bloody mess when I got thru, but well worth it. I had to walk right in the middle of the small trees like bushes to get the last of the crop for this year. So far I have made 12 / 8 ounce jars of jelly and it’s the most beautiful and tasty jelly you can make. If your picking in Central Texas, just make sure to wear snake boots; we got rattlesnakes everywhere, and spray down with Off Insect repellent. A one gallon zip lock bag full will give about 3.5 cups of juice with no pulp using a regular fine strainer. Throw the plums in a regular size stew pot and boil them down with about 1 and a half cups of water. Use a wooden spoon and when they start getting soft just start mashing them; takes about 30 minutes to boil them down. I use a shrimp pot with a bottom to heat the jars and lids only, (not the tops with the seal) just under a boil while cooking the plums. I then bring the juice to a boil, with 3.5 or 4 cups of juice, I add about 2 tablespoons of dry pectin, tablespoon of margarine, and two tablespoons of lemon juice to avoid foaming. Still boiling I then add 3.5 cups of sugar, Any more sugar than that is just too much…I slow boil constantly stirring for about 5 minutes. Set if off the stove and take your jars out of the hot water. This mush liquid will make around 5 eight ounce jars, once filled put the sealing lids on and screw down just hand tight on the jars, do not overtighten. Put the jars filled back in the shrimp pot and bring to a slow boil and watch the air escaping out of the jars for about 10 minutes. Remove jars and place on a dry towel and after a few minutes; sometime an hour the jar lids will start popping and sealing up the jelly. that is how we Texas folk make Chickasaw Plum jelly the simple way…
I was born is Kansas and now out of state. I’m looking online to order some jelly as the plums do not live in my area. Anyone know where I can obtain some, doesn’t look like it is easy to find for sale. Plum jelly online is not SAND PLUM. I miss the jelly I grew up on.
Hi Gary — Thanks for the comment and the question. The problem is that this year (2018) there was a very late frost and there are no sand plums! we were all sad about that. I’m not sure where you could get some sand plums in the good years though — Your best bet is to contact a farmer’s market (generally attached to the towns Extension Services) and see if you could make a deal with one of the farmer’s to privately sell you some and send them. I wish you the best of luck!
Gary, I’m a native Oklahoman and this year (2018) I picked over 50 pounds of sand plums and made approx 80 plus jars of jelly! If it’s allowed on this site, i’d be happy to contact you and sell you a couple of jars. I made so much we’ll never eat it all! lol!
Christy!! Great news! I could find none on this side of the state. I will privately contact gary through his email address and give him yours so you two can make your deal! Kelli
Wish I had found this earlier! Moved to New Town new house. Had this bush in yard. First year flowered, no fruit. This spring flowered, voila! Fruit! Then had to discover what type fruit. Sand plums!
Next adventure, canning jelly. It all came out good, a bit tart, I’m not a fan of tart, but everyone says reminds them of their Nana or Papa making plum jelly.
Next year if I get fruit I’ll add more sugar!
Thanks!
I’m in the panhandle of Texas
Great! you are very lucky to have one of these in your yard — wish I did. The fruit costs a pretty penny to buy these days! Enjoy the recipe!
I’m working on a novel and on a wild hair gave a character in Oklahoma a history of making sand plum jam, which is beautiful to see and roundly lauded as delicious, but I can’t find a good description of its flavor other than sweet, tart, or tropical. How would you describe it? TIA.
Hi Anna — Boy — I an not much of a writer but I would say that the June air hangs with the heavy scent of sand plum jelly, a mixture of humidity and Okie twang. It’s a sweet/tart smell like no other. The taste has bitter notes that make the parts under your tongue stand up and be counted. The sweet is not so sweet but the combo of the sweet and tart is very balanced and satisfying. The color and taste each year is determined by the weather pattern combinations (drought, wet, hot, mild) so each year you sort of get a surprise. It may take 7 years to find the exact taste that you remember as a child……….nothing you can do because the weather has to be exactly the same to mimic the taste. Sometimes it’s pale yellow, dark amber and every once in a while it’s a magenta pink…. all due to weather. Good luck and I hope this helps you write what you want!
We moved into a new house in NC this past November and recently realized that there are two quite large chickasaw plum trees in the backyard. They’re both about 10 feet tall and bearing fruit. I’ve been collecting whatever plums I can (that is what the local critters and birds don’t get to first!), and look forward to trying your recipe!
Be sure to let us all know how it goes!!
Kelli, thanks for the recipe. I just found I had sand plums growing wild behind my house in SC. Today your recipe gave me 4 pints plus of the best tasting jam I ever had. Thanks for posting it. 😁👍👍
Hi David! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
Hi! I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to say, thanks for posting the recipe! A friend and I picked about 10 pounds of chicaksaw plums yesterday (I had to google to figure out what they were) and I juiced them today. Using your method of simmering the plums with the pit in and then using the food mill after was MUCH easier than trying to pit these things! Thanks again!
I’m so glad you found it useful!! I just bought 3 Chickasaw plum trees! so, in a few years — I will have fruit in my back yard!!